Toronto crime rate falls: Firearms deaths about half last year’s total
Date: Dec 28, 2006 9:39 AM
PUBLICATION: Montreal Gazette
DATE: 2006.12.28
EDITION: Final
SECTION: News
PAGE: A18
BYLINE: BETSY POWELL
SOURCE: Toronto Star
DATELINE: TORONTO
WORD COUNT: 584

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After ’05 Year of the Gun, Toronto crime rate falls: More arrests, but
fewer killings. Firearms deaths about half last year’s total

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When it came to fighting violent crime in Toronto this year, more was
less.

Police laid more criminal charges, made more arrests, seized more guns,
wrote more traffic tickets and had more contact with the public.

There were also more jobs aimed at helping youth while, in Ottawa, Prime
Minister Stephen Harper and the Conservatives introduced legislation to
give offenders convicted of gun crimes more time in prison.

As 2006 ends, police statistics show violent crime in Toronto,
particularly gun crime, is down from last year. Most significantly, the
number of firearm-related homicides fell dramatically, although domestic
slayings took a disturbing jump.

While there was a flare-up of pre-Christmas shootings around the city,
the number of people killed by gun violence was 28, falling well short
of last year’s record 52. Overall, there have been 68 homicides to date,
while last year there were 79.

As of last Friday, there had been 199 shootings – down from 239 at the
same time last year. The number of shooting victims also declined, to
277 from 323.

But police chief Bill Blair is cautious not to claim any victories. “A
lot of those conditions that give rise to violence still exist,” he
said. “We live in a big city and I think we’ve got to remain vigilant,
and there’s no room for complacency here. There’s lots of work to do in
the future.”

Still, during a year-end interview in his office last week, Blair
admitted he feels “very pleased and gratified that all of that work got
results.”

“I think we’ve been effective and restored public confidence in police
and neighbourhoods, and young people are not out of control,” he said.

“We’ve got a lot to be thankful for. This is a very safe city relative
to others. It’s not utopia, but it’s a safe place and we have to work
hard to keep it that way.”

Toronto is also bucking a trend evident in many major U.S. cities, where
violence has been on the rise – ironic considering Toronto police have
modelled their anti-violence strategy on the “best practices” of several
U.S. centres, including Chicago, New York and Los Angeles, Blair said.

The strategy has included targeting crime “hot spots” and a more visible
police presence in violence-hit neighbourhoods.

What is unique to Toronto, however, is the force using
anti-organized-crime legislation to attack and dismantle street gangs.

With gang members locked up, some cite the “incapacitation” of
potentially armed thugs as a reason for less gun violence this year -
but not everyone agrees.

While Toronto may have avoided a sequel to the Year of the Gun,
“incapacitation” as a long-term strategy for reducing crime “has
been
found to have very limited results,” University of Ottawa professor
Cheryl Webster wrote in an email.

She is the author of a research paper titled “Limits of Justice,”
presented at Toronto Mayor David Miller’s 2004 Panel on Community
Safety.

In her paper, Webster noted a growing body of research examining “the
impact on crime rates of various strategies rooted in changes in laws,
enforcement techniques, sentencing policy or correctional programming
… has found – in most cases – either nonexistent, transient or only
modest effects.”

Webster said homicide rates have been relatively stable over the past 30
years. But there were two “sudden peaks” – one in 2005 and the other in
1991 – when there were 89 homicides.

“The problem with this natural tendency of extreme scores to ‘regress’
or return to normal levels is that any intervention, such as police
crackdowns on gang members, which occurs immediately following these
spikes appears – erroneously – to have an effect,” she wrote.

In other words, “it is likely that this decline in homicide rates would
have occurred naturally without any significant change in enforcement
practices.”

Webster calls for more emphasis on preventive measures before youth get
involved in gangs and guns, such as more money for education, family
support, community programs and good housing.

The Second Amendment IS Homeland Security !