Sutcliffe would increase police budget, open station in ByWard Market
Mark Sutcliffe would hire more police officers, open a new station in the ByWard Market and push to install CCTV cameras in an effort to deter crime, the mayoral candidate said Thursday.
“I'm not going to cut police services when people are worried about crime and safety,” he told CTV News on Thursday ahead of announcing his platform on policing. “The police budget needs to grow, not shrink.”
Sutcliffe’s plan includes opening a community resource centre in the ByWard Market and adding 100 more positions over four years to address violence against women, hate and bias crime, and gun violence.
"The police budget has shrunk as a percentage of the city budget over the last few years. the city is growing, we are not going to be able to keep the city safe, with the police budget frozen,” he said.
He is also specifically targeting Coun. Catherine McKenney, calling them “radical change” and a supporter of defunding the police.
“I think it’s a choice between me and Catherine McKenney in this election,” he said. “Catherine is a supporter of defunding the police, now they're backing away from that because they know they can't get elected that way.”
In a statement to CTV News, McKenney suggested their focus as mayor would be to rebuild the public's trust in police following the 'Freedom Convoy' occupation earlier this year.
"Everyone in our city needs to have confidence in our police's ability to keep us safe," they said. "As mayor, I will work with the new Police Chief to get us there. After a year of unprecedented tumult in our city during the convoy, we need to do the hard work of rebuilding trust and reassessing priorities."
"When the City of Ottawa invests hundreds of millions per year in any area, citizens want to see clear evidence that those funds are being spent sensibly.”
McKenney also called on the city's Police Services Board hold off on hiring a new Ottawa police chief until after the Oct. 24 election. The board is currently undertaking a search for Ottawa’s new top cop.
“This is a time for renewal for the City and for the Police,” they wrote in a letter to the Police Services Board. “I ask that you allow the new Council and new PSB to choose the Chief who will lead that renewal."
The police services board came under scrutiny during the 'Freedom Convoy' protests, when the city's former police chief Peter Sloly resigned during the three-week occupation of the city's downtown core. Many of its members resigned during and after the protest.
Along with the mini police station in the ByWard Market, Sutcliffe says he supports the “target, limited use” of CCTV cameras in at-risk areas for “investigative and deterrence purposes.” In 2019, Mayor Jim Watson asked city staff to study the effectiveness of such cameras after a string of shootings in the Market.
Sutcliffe is also pledging to strike a task force within 30 days of taking office to seek recommendations on dealing with mental illness and substance abuse.
He says he would hire more paramedics with funding from the province, tackle homelessness by move away from emergency shelters in favour of supportive housing, and expand the city’s anti-racism strategy.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Parents of infant who died in wrong-way crash on Ontario's Hwy. 401 were in same vehicle
Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit has released new details about a wrong-way collision in Whitby on Monday night that claimed the lives of four people.
Three Quebec men from same family father hundreds of children
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
B.C. mayor stripped of budget, barred from committees over Indigenous residential schools book
A British Columbia mayor has been censured by city council – stripping him of his travel and lobbying budgets and removing him from city committees – for allegedly distributing a book that questions the history of Indigenous residential schools in Canada.
OPP's mandatory alcohol screening during traffic stops 'not acceptable': CCLA
A spike in impaired driving-related collisions has caused Ontario’s provincial police to begin enforcing mandatory alcohol screening (MAS) at all traffic stops in the Greater Toronto Area -- a move one civil rights group says is ‘not acceptable.’
Maple Leafs down Bruins 2-1 to force Game 7
William Nylander scored twice and Joseph Woll made 22 saves as the Toronto Maple Leafs downed the Boston Bruins 2-1 on Thursday to force Game 7 in their first-round series.
Jurors in Trump hush money trial hear recording of pivotal call on plan to buy affair story
Jurors in the hush money trial of Donald Trump heard a recording Thursday of him discussing with his then-lawyer and personal fixer a plan to purchase the silence of a Playboy model who has said she had an affair with the former president.
Southern Alberta store broken into by burly black bear
Staff at a small southern Alberta office supply store were shocked to find someone had broken into the business last week, but they were even more confused when they discovered the culprit was a bear.
Captain sentenced to 4 years for criminal negligence in fiery deaths of 34 aboard scuba boat
A federal judge on Thursday sentenced a scuba dive boat captain to four years in custody and three years supervised release for criminal negligence after 34 people died in a fire aboard the vessel.
New scam targets Canada Carbon Rebate recipients
Fake text message and email campaigns trying to get money and information out of unsuspecting Canadian taxpayers have started circulating, just months after the federal government rebranded the carbon tax rebate the Canada Carbon Rebate.