It's time for the city to stop accepting vandalism as normal and council has to lead the way, said Mayor Nolan Crouse.
Saddened by a rash of recent vandalism capped by last weekend's destruction of a prized aboriginal sculpture, Crouse said council has to lead by example by reporting the results of any crime they see and expecting quick repairs to damaged infrastructure.
The city has experienced several incidents of vandalism in the last few weeks, including damage to a baseball clubhouse and local school, as well as planks thrown into Big Lake and graffiti on structures. Crouse estimates there's been $100,000 worth of damage to property within St. Albert in the last couple of months.
Speaking at Monday's meeting of the standing committee on finance, Crouse said he's had enough.
"Our responsibility is to at least lead the way and not be prepared to accept mediocrity when it comes to damage and vandalism and graffiti," he said.
"I don't think I'm over-reacting. I'm starting to connect some dots and I'm going to take this on just a little bit stronger."
In a later interview, Crouse said he'll bring forward a motion at next Monday's council meeting seeking a city policy aimed at clearly defining issues like whose responsibility it is to report damage such as broken bus benches and other damaged property.
He's also drafted letters to companies like utilities that have infrastructure in St. Albert reminding them of the city's graffiti bylaw.
"I want our infrastructure repaired so we can be proud of our community," he said.
Stats show downtrend
Crime statistics show the number of incidents of mischief and vandalism are down substantially this year compared to last year, said Insp. Warren Dosko of the St. Albert RCMP said.
To this point last year, local RCMP had received 446 reports of mischief or vandalism. That number sits at 265 so far this year. This reduction has come despite a six-month campaign to encourage more vandalism reporting.
"I think we're actually seeing a decreasing trend," Dosko said.
Vandalism is still an issue, he added. Sometimes a single incident like the recent sculpture destruction can have a huge impact on the community, he said.
Bring back task force?
For several years St. Albert had a vandalism task force, but that ended in December 2009. That group ran aground after its major recommendation of imposing a youth curfew failed to gain support from the previous council.
Vandalism is as bad now as it was in 2005 when the group formed and founding co-chair Lynda Moffat wouldn't mind seeing it come back.
"I just don't think anything's changed. It's still an issue. It's probably just new players," she said.
There would have to be political support for the task force, she said.
Neither Dosko nor Crouse were interested in resurrecting the vandalism task force.
The police and the city's Family and Community Support Services section have been working on a healthy communities initiative aimed at getting neighbours to know one another and work together on solving neighbourhood problems.
The result has been block parties and more unity in communities, Dosko said, which is an effective way to prevent property crimes.
"Through community engagement we can solve a lot of these issues without trying to throw more policemen at the problem," he said.
