Here's what the next city council should consider to improve policing in London

Some people are calling on London's next city councillors to prepare themselves to make important decisions on policing.

In May, the London Police Service (LPS) board approved a request from Chief Steve Williams to add 52 new frontline officers to the force. The request is now waiting for approval from city council, and will be one of the first decisions to be made by newcomers to the table, following the Oct. 24 election.

With this in mind, CBC News asked the following three people what they would like the next city council to do in order to make London a safer city. 

Susanne Koch, admin of Neighbourhood Crime Watch - London, ON  

Koch helps to run a Facebook group where Londoners can share crime tips. 

She started the page in 2020, after waiting eight hours for the LPS to respond when three robbers broke into her west London home while she and her family were inside. As the family waited, the robbers left and returned several times, taking a set of house keys and two vehicles. She was told that police were too short-staffed that night to respond any sooner.

The purpose of the Facebook page is to encourage Londoners to make online reports in their area so that police will know where to provide more surveillance.   

"If we all work together with these extra eyes, we're going to get a lot further," said Koch, adding that the page has been helpful in locating stolen vehicles and missing children. 

She'd like to see the new city council grant the LPS their request for more funding to hire more officers, focus on crime prevention and lower response times to no more than one hour. 

"Citizens feeling unsafe that nobody comes — it should never happen," said Koch. "There should always be enough staffing so that everyone can feel safe." 

Dr. Javeed Sukhera, former chair of the London Police Services Board 

Sukhera served as chair of the LPS board from 2020 to 2021. He is now serving as chair of psychiatry at Hartford Hospital in Connecticut. 

There are many different communities with diverse needs, relationships with policing, and perceptions of what it means to be safe in London, Sukhera said. 

Not everybody perceives safety with the increased presence of policing, but some do, he said.  

"My experience would suggest that addressing challenges in policing is a bit like walking a tightrope," Sukhera said. 

"There can be very polarizing perspectives on both sides, but at the end of the day, anybody elected to council would be called upon to work in a constructive way with our police services while engaging with the community. Recognizing that the vitriol gets us nowhere, but engaging with one another to address the issues of public safety that aren't going away, is the only way forward." 

London's new city council has to ensure that the people they appoint to the police services board represent that diversity, said Sukhera. They should be inclusive when making policy decisions, do fulsome public engagement, and make a concerted effort to reach out to communities that don't typically interact or engage with city council. 

Consultation for the sake of consultation isn't good enough, he said. If the next city council truly cares about meeting diverse groups, they'll be more assertive in door-to-door outreach and in-person engagement to meet people where they're at socially.  

Sukhera added that he is in support of giving the LPS more funding to meet the needs of a growing city.  

"Police have been asked to do more and more, particularly as it relates to mental health, which isn't part of their job," he said. "With the expansion of the population, the expansion of the need and growth in the city, it's impossible to sustain or provide any decent level of service without ensuring there's adequate funding to do so." 

Alexandra Kane, Black Lives Matter spokesperson 

Kane represents Black Lives Matter, as well as the Black London Network. She said it's time for  the incoming city council to try something new. 

"Council needs to be aware of the histories of policing both in London and beyond, with regards to Ontario and in Canada, and I think they need to be aware of the patterns that the police have established for themselves with regards to policing and using extreme force against Black and Indigenous communities, and communities of colour in general," said Kane. 

She'd like to see more transparency and willingness to admit wrongdoing when it occurs, and for council to consider taking away weapons from traffic police.  

Kane is also calling for more face-to-face consultation with groups representing diverse community members.  

"If we don't try different methodologies putting Black and Indigenous communities at the forefront, we're not going to get safer results for these communities."

If the next city council plans to make London a better place to live for everyone, there needs to be more investment in social services and affordable housing as many grapple with the rising cost of living, she said. 

"As a community, we cannot consider ourselves blessed and highly favoured if folks are starving, if folks are sleeping in the cold, if folks are calling out for mental health services and armed police officers are dragging them down the stairs," said Kane. 

"There's a lot to fix. One of the things I will say is that I'm glad when I'm driving around the city and I see signs of all these hopeful potential politicians, and there's a lot more potential politicians of colour," she added.