Photo by Whitehorse Star
City councillor Laura Cabott
Councillor wonders how city can foil crime
City councillor Laura Cabott wants to know if there is anything the city can do to combat the rising crime rate.
City councillor Laura Cabott wants to know if there is anything the city can do to combat the rising crime rate.
Cabott told her colleagues at their meeting Monday there has been a significant increase in residential and business break-ins and thefts occurring in stores.
Vehicles are having their windows smashed and being broken into, she said.
The criminal activity is happening in more than just one neighbourhood and downtown, she pointed out.
“I think we are all aware it,” she said. “People are concerned, people are upset and looking for some answers.”
The mayoral candidate asked if the city has reached out to the RCMP.
“Do we have any sense of what is causing this and do we have any plans to address it?”
Doug Spencer, the city’s manager of bylaw services, said the city is in regular contact with police on matters of mutual responsibility.
Criminal activity, however, is not something that’s in the mandate of bylaw services, he said.
Bylaw officers do not have the authority to make arrests or investigate criminal activity, he noted. He said the city does support the RCMP through shared communication.
Spencer is aware, for instance, the RCMP put out messaging a couple of weeks ago to make the public aware of the rise in criminal activity and ways people can at least minimize the chance of being victims or targeted by the criminal activity.
The RCMP issued another statement Tuesday (see story above).
Cabott said it seems to her the city could do more than have regular contact with the RCMP about something significant happening in the city.
Bylaw officers do have a restricted mandate, she acknowledges, noting they are not police officers and do not carry guns.
But it sounds like the city is stepping back and leaving it up to the RCMP to fix, she said.
Early in this council’s term, Cabott said, there was an issue of parking meter thefts, and the city did take some pro-active steps with the police and others to crack down on it.
Is there possibly something the city could do to assist the RCMP, she asked.
She suggested the city perhaps could step up patrols by bylaw officers.
“If there is something we can do to assist, I would be in favour of that,” Cabott said.
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Comments (25)
Up 5 Down 1
TheHammer on Oct 12, 2021 at 1:18 pm
Josey Wales@ My comments are to be taken with a pinch of salt. If you take them seriously, what does this tell us about you?
Up 5 Down 2
Josey Wales on Oct 12, 2021 at 12:32 pm
Hammer time...morbid curiosity?
Maybe when you are trying to make a point you could be more vague?
Not certain how anyone with a brain would have sleuthed that out with the information you gave.
Maybe just say things Vs think them, we cannot read what is not there.
Oh yeah, might wanna adjust your sensitivity meter...seems stuck on defensive beta.
Alphas just say what they want to say, how folks process it is on them.
Morbid...pffft, trying to get clarity on your compelling participation.
Up 4 Down 3
TheHammer on Oct 12, 2021 at 11:14 am
JoseyWales@ No, I am not referring to capital punishment. That is your morbid imagination. I'm referring to 15 years in a penal colony (Australia) for stealing a loaf of bread. The Cat O Nine tails (British Navy), or biblical law of hand chopping, and the Bahais' have an interesting one, branding the culprit on the forehead.
Up 7 Down 2
Josey Wales on Oct 10, 2021 at 8:37 pm
Hey hammer...if you are referring to capital punishment, wrong you are.
Last two folks hung in Canada, were under a conservative government in 1962, Dec. 11th.
By absolute happenstance, 1963 seen that end under a Liberal government.
What was wiped off the books in the 18/19th century?
So yeah hug a thug goes back awhile, but just a few seasons away...came?
P.E.T. the rest as they say is history, as the lunatics are running the asylum.
With his alleged boy in power, history repeats. “Just watch him”.
Today at dinner, I gave thanks for having a brain that works.
Not inferring hammer yours is not, seems society is having some cognitive challenges...mental gymnastics just isn’t cutting it?
Hug a thug folks, votes are counting on it.
Up 29 Down 2
Groucho d'North on Oct 10, 2021 at 9:51 am
Perhaps a good place to start would be for City Council to admit that Whitehorse has become Gomorrah by the river. It is like a slow decay caused by looking the other way when community safety and comfort is corrupted by public intoxication, panhandling, B&E artists who never get revealed because of racial sensitivities, vandalism and some of the vile things sometimes reported in this newspaper. Of course we can do better as a community but we must first identify what the real issues are - like elected officials who do not have the courage to admit what the truth really is.
Up 26 Down 3
Nathan Living on Oct 8, 2021 at 11:40 pm
I think it's a crime that Whitehorse has become such a horrible place.
Drug and alcohol abuse which is displayed publicly, horrible drivers, a council which spends and look the other way, crime etc.
Up 11 Down 5
TheHammer on Oct 8, 2021 at 7:20 pm
We all know what the answer is, but it was wiped off the books in the 18/19th century. Now we know why certain criminal laws and justice worked. Crime and punishment needs to be reviewed.
Up 27 Down 8
North_of_60 on Oct 7, 2021 at 5:50 pm
This Councilor seems to believe that the way to "foil" crime is to give the criminals they catch more foil covered candies like the ones in the glass beside her.
The basic problem with our justice business is that Liberal Lawyers and the judges they become treat the criminals as victims giving light sentences, with the belief they won't do anymore crimes.
The simple fact that most criminals are serial re-offenders belies that LIB-law belief.
Up 40 Down 4
yukon girl on Oct 7, 2021 at 2:23 pm
Add more funding to the RCMP coffers so they have adequate staffing. Put them in a building that is actually large enough for their members to work efficiently instead of being stacked on top of one another. The city has grown exponentially since that building was built but have the number of officers grown? After that, have a Neighbourhood Watch program where people are watching out for one another and maybe, we'll have enough officers to respond to something like a break-in on a timely basis.
Up 45 Down 9
TMYK on Oct 7, 2021 at 1:30 pm
I’m surprised the city hasn’t painted a crosswalk for victims of crime yet.
Up 58 Down 5
How about actually have a consequence on Oct 7, 2021 at 11:20 am
I'm more worried about what will happen when people start taking the law into their own hands to protect their property and their assets that they earned. Why are the victims constantly getting punished?
Up 33 Down 4
Max Mack on Oct 7, 2021 at 10:51 am
"Early in this council’s term, Cabott said, there was an issue of parking meter thefts, and the city did take some pro-active steps with the police and others to crack down on it."
Glad to see CoW has its priorities in order.
Up 21 Down 4
Platforms on Oct 7, 2021 at 8:34 am
Maybe I’ve missed something but are the platforms for all candidates that are running? Knowing all the platforms will definitely help the electorate when voting.
Up 34 Down 4
Heather on Oct 7, 2021 at 8:02 am
Time for COP (Citizens on Patrol) to be formed. While they too, cannot make arrests, patrolling regularly and being the “eyes” for the police makes a huge difference in keeping crime down. Both foot patrols and car patrols are utilized, and people are always in pairs of 2 or 3. There’s an app that you can now use and information can be put in live as you patrol, which then in turn helps the RCMP with their job of apprehending. Darkness cannot survive when light is shone upon it.
Up 42 Down 8
Pierre on Oct 7, 2021 at 8:01 am
I thought lowering the speed limits to 40 kph would solve everything.
Up 31 Down 4
Anton on Oct 7, 2021 at 7:51 am
Laura, I would like to suggest that considering affordability that the citizen's patrol would provide. I myself have offered two hours of driving, observing, reporting, non-engaging per week to man these patrols. We just need a really good organizer (not anybody that has been in Transit) scheduler and some volunteers as well as a communications person.
Up 45 Down 7
Al on Oct 6, 2021 at 10:39 pm
I think we need to discuss the judicial system. It is quite apparent the courts have made every effort to over protect the villain at the expense of those they have harmed. This isn't just the judges but also the whole legal system. It starts with lawyers (odd that Cabott should speak on the subject of let's get those people when it is her profession that shares in the responsibility of what we have today). Lawyers who don't just prosecute or defend but do so in compromising ways with the purpose of lessening the sentences of the guilty. The RCMP expend huge amounts of energy to climb over the hurtles that the judicial system has put in it's path - again to protect the villain from those awful police people. It is little wonder that the police are demoralized when the see the peck on the cheek - slap on wrist - pat on the bum and a wave with a mild lecture of "tsk, tsk you should not do that". Oh we know you had a hard life so we will cut you some slack, after all it was society's fault - not yours - the court is sorry you had a broken life (or whatever meaningless drivel the espouse) and on behalf of society we apologize for all that you have suffered from at society's hands."
...and this brings us today where looting, thievery is at every corner. Why on streets it is even considered an honorary skill set to be admired by those within. Better yet is when you get off with that little pat on the bum to be able and go and do it all over again.
There is an answer - but - the judicial system does not want to take ownership of what they themselves have created. The citizen's hands are tied, the police the same in all in the name of "being fair" to those you have been criminalized by.
It sure does make you feel warm and fuzzy does it not?
Up 27 Down 17
Josey Wales on Oct 6, 2021 at 5:56 pm
Hmmm let’s see, what can the COW do for crime reduction?
Well much like the Greta campaign you could start a civic one on the dangers of voting liberal?
They are the hug a thug party, they pay convicted terrorists many millions for allegedly breaching his Charter rights...than ran the CCoR&F’s into a shredder for all the other citizens.
Yes the city could do just that, the danger, the crime and how it is enabled would be a great start.
Oh yeah, that photo in this article? Sugar is bad, like real bad, kills thousands a week, more than COVID-19. Does she know the clear and present danger she is in? Why do we allow sugar in civic buildings?
Up 39 Down 9
Wilf Carter on Oct 6, 2021 at 5:29 pm
Give the RCMP the money to do their jobs by employing more officers and tools to take down the criminals.
Up 39 Down 9
bonanzajoe on Oct 6, 2021 at 5:26 pm
And if she wants bi-law officers to do more patrols - for what reason I can't think of since they can't make arrests and don't carry guns, maybe they should be re-trained, given guns and allowed to make arrests. Funny how we hear the same old crap every time there is an election. But since Cabot doesn't have any suggestions to put a stop to the crimes, find another profession.
Up 46 Down 13
bonanzajoe on Oct 6, 2021 at 5:22 pm
Cabot is a city councilor and a Mayoral candidate and she doesn't know how to stop crime in the city? Well, if she is that ignorant and naive, I won't be voting for her. So, let me give her some suggestions. Make the perps pay hard time and money out of their bank accounts; tell the police to make more nightly patrols - that means out of the rich affluent neighborhoods and into the poorer ones; Tell the judges to do their jobs - no more bail and out on the streets before trial; and people buy security cameras. They are not that expensive and insurance rates will go down. Those are just some of a many. So, madam Cabot, do some research before you run for public office.
Up 24 Down 5
Rambo John J on Oct 6, 2021 at 4:59 pm
If you want to Win a War....
You must Become the War....
Up 34 Down 5
Have the bylaw officers take up traffic enforcement? on Oct 6, 2021 at 4:45 pm
....at least in the downtown area, and let the RCMP officers spend more time on property crime. At the same time, these names and a few others keep showing up in the arrest reports, and that's on the courts and probation services.
Up 46 Down 13
Matthew on Oct 6, 2021 at 4:44 pm
And you want to be mayor!? LOL! It's simple, actually prosecute people! Stop letting them off the hook so easy, but of course most of them will be high as f**k from free drug centre DT, and will claim some sort of mental problem..
Up 67 Down 7
JSM on Oct 6, 2021 at 4:21 pm
hmm - I wonder what lead to the increase of crime and mischief over the last few years? The answers are out there but god forbid you voice it.
I have some theories myself.