This month, the Halton Police Board is highlighting community safety and well-being on their Twitter account.
The Community Safety and Well-Being Plan began years ago when police boards felt that they were taking on unnecessary responsibilities. They felt that “complex risks to safety and well-being cannot and should not be addressed in isolation by any one organization, agency or sector.”
The original plan was introduced by Halton delegates in 2014. Halton has been regularly ranked as one of the safest communities in the country. It was created “as part of a shared commitment to be the safest and healthiest region in Canada.”
Chair of the Halton Police Board and Oakville Mayor, Rob Burton, explains that early process following a conference in Ottawa.
The Community Safety and Well-Being Plan uses “an alignment of community goals, integrated programming, collaboration, and partnership to help provide the best service possible for residents.” This way, the Halton Police are not tasked with taking on what Burton calls, “non-police work.”
Chair Burton adds that when they drafted their plan, Ontario wanted other municipalities to adopt a similar initiative.
Burton says they took the opportunity to lead and blaze a trail in order to provide the safest possible community.
He uses an analogy that explains that a community is best served when specialists focus on what they specialize in, allowing officers, or in his story – the lifeguards, the ability to focus strictly on police work.
You can read up on the Halton Region’s Community Safety and Well-Being Plan here.