Crime in downtown Dartmouth highlighted at police board meeting

Some residents and business owners in downtown Dartmouth are calling for more police in their area because they say crime is getting out of control, while others say more policing isn't the answer.

The concerns were raised during online public consultations Wednesday over the Halifax Board of Police Commissioners' 2024-25 operating budget. They're looking to fund 24 more positions, including 12 more constables who would get the same level of mental-health training as specialized officers who are part of the Mental Health Mobile Crisis Team,

Of the 13 people who spoke over a video link, seven were against the budget and six people supported it. A fatal stabbing in the middle of the day on Portland Street last week was cited as a recent example of the violence residents and business owners have to deal with.

"It's horrific down here. There's no other way to describe it. It's not a safe place for children, it's not a place for businesses to thrive. It is not even a place I'm proud to show people," said Chandler Haliburton, a downtown Dartmouth resident of 14 years.

Chandler told the board he noticed criminal activity getting worse two years ago. He said he supported the police budget's request of hiring more officers.

"It has been a literal crime-ridden disaster for a long period of time, most recently highlighted by a murder in the middle of the day, a vicious stabbing murder, one o'clock in the afternoon on the main road," he said.

Case for and against more policing

Ursula Prossegger, a downtown Dartmouth resident who is a property manager with Urchin Property Management, told the board she hasn't seen enough enforcement from police in the past. She said she's seen an increase in violence over the years.

"Downtown Dartmouth is home to approximately 7,000 people. We are surrounded by shelters, encampments and hangout areas for homeless. Drawing a line from location to location on a map, you end up with a noose that chokes the life, vibrancy, safety and security out of our beautiful area," Prossegger said.

Lou Campbell lives in Halifax and said they don't want to see police called to intervene in mental health crisis situations. Campbell spoke about recently calling police as a last resort to help after someone came into their home experiencing a mental health crisis. They said police made the situation worse.

"The dispatcher was escalating the situation, they were rude to me on the phone. The police came into my home, completely destroyed my home, tore it apart, traumatized me, traumatized the people in my neighbourhood, traumatized — most importantly — the person who had a mental health crisis," Campbell told the board.

"They don't listen to you and they don't listen to reason. They storm in with violence and anger.... It's certainly the case if you're marginalized. You are not treated well and you are not treated with respect."

Campbell said taxpayer money should be given to other frontline responders, not the police.

'We have neighbours in hard situations'

Frank Heimpel, who lives in Halifax, also voiced opposition to the police budget.

"It's also extremely disheartening to hear our unhoused neighbours, our mentally ill neighbours referred to as less desirable people ... we don't have less desirable neighbours, we have neighbours in hard situations," Heimpel said.

Heimpel said money for increasing the number of police in mental health roles could be better spent on community services.

"When we allow funding to go towards cops instead of those services, we are further perpetuating the problems that we are seeing. We are not making space for solutions, we are just criminalizing homelessness, we are criminalizing mental illness, we are criminalizing these things that are a product of the world we are living in already," Heimpel said.

Kate Macdonald, a Halifax resident who works in the non-profit sector, also opposed the police budget and called for funding in other community supports.

"I work with youth often and I accompany them to the hospital, various appointments, mental health services. And the last thing that I think would create a welcoming, loving and supportive environment would be seeing armed police officers within the hospital," Macdonald told the board.

Working together for a solution

"I think that there's a lack of understanding surrounding the impact of police violence on civilians through a holistic mental health lens and that concerns me and shows an inability or lack of skills to supporting mental health."

Jeff McLatchy, the owner of Celtic Corner in downtown Dartmouth, told the board there is "an emergency going on in downtown Dartmouth at this time." He spoke in support of "additional resources" in the area.

"In my community, that involves policing, it involves civilian crisis intervention teams, it involves navigators, it involves the unhoused, it involves people who have mental health issues. But I want to recognize that all those people have a role to play, including our policing forces," he said. "I think we need to support that part of it as much as any part of it to work together to develop social empathy as well as sympathy."