The Downtown Orillia Management Board (DOMB) is appealing for more foot patrols in the area — again.
It’s a familiar request from the board, which has called for an increased police presence downtown a number of times over the past few years.
“We’re asking for the increase because we’re seeing situations down here that are not conducive to good business,” DOMB chair Michael Knight said of crime and other activities happening downtown.
He has owned a business on the main street for 35 years and said he and some other longtime merchants think the situation might be the worst they’ve seen.
In a letter to the Orillia Police Services Board (OPSB), DOMB manager Lisa Thomson-Roop wrote, “While the OPP have always been very quick to respond to calls for assistance, the board and members believe a dedicated foot patrol, perhaps using recently retired officers, will greatly reduce the current undesired behaviour downtown and the need for calls for assistance in the core.”
Knight said there was a time when retired officers patrolled downtown and it was effective.
“I know that it works. We’ve done it before and it did work, so I’m hopeful we can do it again,” he said.
He would like to see foot patrols happen on a consistent and scheduled basis, so the DOMB is hoping that will be worked into the city’s next contract with Ontario Provincial Police.
Mayor Steve Clarke, chair of the OPSB, said he wants to give the new Orillia OPP detachment commander, Insp. Coyer Yateman, time to learn more about the issue and see what plans he might put in place to address it.
Clarke noted foot patrols increased in the past year but said he doesn’t “think it’s where it needs to be yet.”
“There is very good value to having foot patrols,” he said. “Our new detachment commander appears very committed to making foot patrols a more fulsome part of downtown policing.”
A motion passed by the DOMB at a meeting in July included a number of directions. In addition to requesting more foot patrols, board staff were asked to write a letter to Attorney General Doug Downey and ask that OPP detachment commanders “serve a community for a minimum of three to five years before moving onto another role in the organization.”
The DOMB had discussions with the previous Orillia OPP commander, Supt. Veronica Eaton, about foot patrols. However, before significant action could be taken, she was seconded to OPP General Headquarters, then returned to the local detachment before heading back to headquarters after being promoted.
“I understand that frustration,” Clarke said, but added there has been an assurance that Yateman will remain on the job for a certain amount of time.
In his response to the letter from the DOMB, Clarke suggested the board urge its members to get on board with the city’s new Security Camera Registry and Mapping program, which sees residents and businesses install cameras on the exterior of their buildings and register the cameras with Orillia OPP.
Knight praised the program but said it doesn’t address the main issue businesses face.
“We’re looking for foot patrols to prevent things from happening,” he said. “Cameras are great for finding someone after they’ve created a problem, but it isn’t preventing the problem.”
The DOMB motion also directed staff to write to Simcoe North MPP Jill Dunlop to request “municipalities be granted the authority to regulate methadone clinics via zoning in their communities.”
There are two methadone clinics on Mississaga Street — one at the intersection with West Street and one at Front Street.
“The concern seems to be the type of people that are drawn to them,” Knight said, adding there have been instances of fighting and other bad behaviour. “I believe that those people have every right to get their methadone, but should they not be in a hospital district?”
Clarke agreed that the location of the downtown clinics, “on two of the busiest corners in our city, is an issue.”
“I would much prefer that the city have the ability to regulate where those types of clinics go,” he said, adding somewhere near the hospital, which isn’t far from the downtown core, “might be an ideal location.”
While there hasn’t been discussion at the council table about requesting the city be able to regulate the locations, Clarke said he was willing to have that conversation, as mayor, with Dunlop.
