A Victoria city councillor released data on 911 calls to homeless shelters and city parks
A recent data dump of 911 calls for service to homeless shelters and city parks in Victoria paints an unfair and inaccurate picture of criminality in the city and demonizes the homeless, says the head of Our Place Society.
The data show there were an average of about 50,700 911 calls made each year in the city. Of those, about 12,400 were to encampments and social housing. “I think it’s also unfortunate if people get a view of agencies like our service providers who are doing our best by some very vulnerable people that we’re somehow perpetuating and creating a centre of criminality in our city,” he said. “That’s unfortunate because then people begin to have a really negative view, not only of service providers, but also of homeless people generally.”Sandra Severs, president of the association, said while the data were interesting, they didn’t say much.
She also noted all areas of the city are different, with some neighbourhoods more likely to report infractions and anti-social activity than others.“I didn’t have any bigger agenda. I wanted the public to have access to it and then they can also decide if they want to tell any of my fellow councillors that they want something more done,” he said, referring to a motion he brought to council asking for more security around supportive housing sites in the city.
Manak said many of the calls in and around the supportive housing units and encampments are social disorder calls — disturbances, suspicious persons, noise complaints and the like — that aren’t criminal, but still add to the workload.
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