Downtown businesses will benefit from a do-it-yourself crime prevention strategy, members of a five-party committee said Wednesday.

The City of Whitehorse, the Whitehorse Chamber of Commerce, the RCMP, the territorial Justice department and youth justice organizations joined forces two years ago to tackle crime against downtown businesses.

On March 26, the five-party committee will unveil its crime prevention strategy, which will see businesses become active in their own crime reduction efforts.

"One question I often get asked by downtown business owners is when are we going to do something about crime?" said Mayor Bev Buckway.

At a noon council meeting, Lesley Carberry, the Justice department's crime prevention and policing director, told Buckway the imminent strategy will help restructure that attitude.

"We don't want people to stop you and ask, 'What are you doing to stop this?' but instead say, 'This is what I'm doing to stop this.' "

The committee's crime prevention strategy remains a confidential document until it is officially unveiled to downtown business owners March 26 at an open house and presentation.

At Wednesday's council meeting, the parties met to present the strategy document to city council as a finished product.

The impetus behind the meeting was to illustrate the benefits of the five-party committee working in unison.

"The time for pointing fingers has passed," said Carberry. "We really have to get together on this."

The strategy will encourage businesses to report crimes to the RCMP, because without knowing about a problem, they cannot take action, said Carberry, nodding at Staff-Sergeant Tim Walton, director of the "M" Division.

Right now, there is a large divide between actual crime rates in downtown Whitehorse and what business owners perceive crime rates to be, she reported.

Business owners' perceptions were gathered and measured by Kelly Fraser, the chamber's project co-ordinator.

He said he queried downtown business owners about their experiences with criminal activity around their stores, and used their thoughts to help guide the crime prevention strategy.

He and the RCMP qualify downtown as the area between the SS Klondike and the Canadian Tire store, from the Yukon River to the escarpment.

"There's a difference between the perception of criminal acts and the statistical analysis of criminal activity," said Rick Karp, the chamber's president.

Business owners will realize that the rash of vandalism, thefts and break-ins experienced two years ago, when the committee was formed, is simply not the case any more, said Karp. The crime statistics provided to Fraser by the RCMP remain confidential, Fraser said.

The forthcoming strategy centres around a CPR model, explained Carberry; "Community participation will lead to reduction."

The strategy outlines business approaches and action into 2011, but it is set up to be reviewed and adapted annually.

Business owners can look forward to receiving a more comprehensive checklist of tasks that will make their business less attractive to crime, and an expanded network of business owners with whom to discuss shared issues, said Karp.

Participation in the crime reduction strategy is not limited to chamber members, he added. Of the 1,200 to 1,500 potential business members downtown, Karp said he expected about 700 to become active in crime prevention strategies.

"I look at this as helping businesses to help themselves," said Walton.

"They are in the best position to make their business less attractive to crime."

When he visits businesses stricken by break-ins, the RCMP officer offers some elementary advice: plant bushes in front of windows, don't use large, two-panel windows as an entrance barrier, and don't rely solely on an alarm system.

"There's quite a few false alarms, and then of course there's a time delay," he said. Changes can be made "more or less with existing resources," he said.

Beyond structural protection, there remain the issues of contributive factors to criminal behaviour.

Buckway asked how and if the Yukon Liquor Corp. could factor into the committee's business. She said often the problems of vandalism, theft and loitering are perpetuated by alcohol abuse at area bars and restaurants.

"They're definitely connected," she said.

"This is probably one of the most frequent questions I get asked and that I feel the most powerless to answer."

Karp answered that they hadn't thought of involving the government-run liquor corporation, but would consider it.

On the issue of graffiti, Buckway said she hoped a graffiti cleanup business will start up in the city.

Coun. Jan Stick said as a business owner herself, she would love to know she could call a business and see graffiti cleaned up that day. Stick owns Well-Read Books on Fourth Avenue.

Carberry answered that a quick-fix cleanup may not be the answer, because often graffiti reappears shortly afterward. But, she conceded, the committee is all about co-operation and is considering all options at this stage.

City councillors were asked to return their copies of the crime prevention strategy at the meeting's end, as it remains veiled in confidentiality until March 26.