By Aaron Mahoney (@Mahones93 on Twitter)

Chamber of Commerce supportive of proposed Watch Ambassador Program in the downtown

Nov 14, 2018 | 12:22 PM

LETHBRIDGE – The Lethbridge Chamber of Commerce has come out in support of the Lethbridge Police Service’s proposed Watch Ambassador Program, ahead of next week’s Operating Budget deliberations for the City of Lethbridge.

The Chamber presented to City Council on Tuesday, Nov. 14, and this morning Chamber President Kristie Kruger explained why.

“We had quite a few member engagements, we did a survey, put a task force together, held some roundtables and really just ended up discovering that this would be the best way to have some visibility in the community in terms of being able to make businesses bring people back and spend money at their stores.”

Since the opening of the new safe consumption site, local businesses and community members have raised concerns that the opening of the site and the ongoing opioid crisis have detrimentally affected business in the area due to the presence of drug users.

The recommendation brought forward is to create a group of city ambassadors in coordination with local law enforcement agencies as recommended by Lethbridge Police and the Downtown BRZ.

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What the proposed program would hope to achieve, according to Kruger, is to make people feel safe in the downtown again.

“Based on what we’ve heard from our members, we’ve had a general sense of people just feeling uncertain and unsafe. So, I think with the watch program it gets more people downtown, it creates an environment where people can feel safe to come and go about their business.”

It would be in conjunction with the Lethbridge Police Department, as volunteers would not be fighting crime, it’s just a way to create visibility and allow for front-line communication with the police.

Some downtown businesses have their own security, but because there’s truancy in any downtown Kruger says not every business is the same.

“I think for the businesses that have had security in place for many years that has just been something they felt was necessary for their patrons and business,” she continued. “I think what the watch program will do is, statistically they’ve found our crime rate has increased and some of that is petty crime, there are more people walking about so this is definitely an additional safeguard.”

At City Council on Tuesday afternoon, councillors did ask the Chamber group if there would be any support financially for the program.

While a few members did show interest in funding, Kruger says it’s not something they’ve explored in detail yet.

“We just know that our business members have expressed interest in definitely seeing some program put in place that could help bring people back to their businesses. I think there’s a feeling from our members that business has slowed down a little bit, people aren’t coming in, we talked to the city about that in terms of what it could potentially look like,” Kruger said, adding they’ll know more about that once the budget comes out and how much money is going to be able to go towards this program.

“But it’s definitely a conversation we’d be willing to have with our members.”

The Chamber landed at supporting this program after consultations with members and looking at what other cities have done to combat the opioid epidemic.

“This program actually exists outside of Lethbridge and is running quite effectively in cities like Winnipeg and Vancouver. It’s not a brand-new model, it’s something that has been in place and been quite successful in those cities. We applaud the City of Lethbridge for all the engagement that they’ve done and the information they’ve given to the public about the opioid crisis that is in Lethbridge right now. The program itself has had success, and we’re hoping we can see success within our own city if implemented,” Kruger said.

The Watch program would act as the eyes and ears for local police, offer assurances to the public, and bring information and assistance to residents and visitors.

In Winnipeg, the program has helped to improve the perceptions of their downtown, kept an eye on crime and helped to save the lives of some of the most vulnerable citizens in the city.

The Chamber would be working with Lethbridge Police on the program, but Kruger says they’ll be the ones essentially running it.

“I know from our perspective it’s really just a policy to say we 100 percent support this,” said Kruger. “We will have no management of it at all, and in fact, we won’t be the ones finding volunteers for the program, it’ll be strictly run by the police.”

The program would come at a cost, and the question of whether business members would be receptive to a tax increase if it meant more police on the street was posed to Kruger.

“I think it’s a precarious balance. Our economy does well, and economy and social enterprise go hand in hand. So, when residents of Lethbridge feel safe, they can enter businesses, and if money is being spent locally that just precipitates our economy.”

Based on the member engagement, Kruger believes this is a big priority for a majority of their members.

“I’m really confident that City Council and our new City Manager are going to be extremely creative in finding ways to come up with solutions to make Lethbridge as great as it can possibly be,” Kruger stated.

In a release, the Chamber recognizes that its recommendations and the program itself won’t fully address all of the issues concerning the opioid crisis but believe it’s a step in the right direction.

They’re committed to continuing to work with the business community to find even more comprehensive solutions moving forward.