Issue link: http://publications.winnipegfreepress.com/i/318918
BIZ 'peg MAY 2014 22 | liveSAFE SAFE & SOUND CRIME PREVENTION IS GOOD FOR BUSINESS by David Schmeichel P olice and politicians aren't the only ones with a role to play in keeping the city safe. As is made clear by Winnipeg's LiveSAFE strategy — a crime prevention policy calling for increased collaboration between police, government and a roster of community partners — local businesses can have a direct impact on enhancing public safety. "LiveSAFE is about having the entire city connected, and recognizing we're all in this together," says Winnipeg Police Service Chief Devon Clunis. "It's not the responsibility of any one organization, or any one part of the city. It takes an entire community working together to help our city achieve its true potential." Approved by city council in 2008, the LiveSAFE policy endorses a balanced approach between crime suppression and crime prevention — one that favours strategies aimed at promoting community well-being, with a particular emphasis on families, children and at-risk youth. By focusing on conditions that foster crime — including poverty, behavioural problems and improper parenting — the strategy sets the stage for enhanced social and economic development. "When you're looking at simply the suppression component, then you're dealing with the crime after it's occurred," Clunis says. "It's better to invest more resources into prevention. The evidence of a good, healthy city — or even an excellent police environment — is the absence of crime, not the observance of us enforcing it." There's a direct correlation between a safe society and a thriving