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“I am a Canadian, free to speak without fear, free to worship in my own way, free to stand for what I think right, free to oppose what I believe wrong, or free to choose those who shall govern my country. This heritage of freedom I pledge to uphold for myself and all mankind.” ~~ John G. Diefenbaker

TIMES COLONIST: Raw 911 data paints complicated portrait of crime in Victoria

A Victoria city councillor released data on 911 calls to homeless shelters and city parks

 

A recent data dump of 911 calls for service to homeless shelters and city parks in Victoria paints an unfair and inaccurate picture of criminality in the city and demonizes the homeless, says the head of Our Place Society.

 

“I think it’s unfortunate when ordinary citizens are led to believe that there is a crime wave going on in the city and at particular organizations when that isn’t in fact the case,” said Julian Daly, chief executive of Our Place, which has its roots on the front lines working with unhoused people and other vulnerable groups. “The data is being used to make it look like our agency, Our Place, is a hotbed of criminality, that there’s a tsunami of crime going on at Our Place, when it’s not.”

 

Victoria Coun. Stephen Hammond recently shared the results of a freedom of information request showing the number of 911 calls for service placed to homeless encampments and shelters in 2020, 2021 and 2022.

 

The data show there were an average of about 50,700 911 calls made each year in the city. Of those, about 12,400 were to encampments and social housing ...

 

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