City police by the numbers

By CHERYL BROWNE, Barrie Examiner

Updated 23 hours ago

When asked, Barrie residents responded overwhelmingly to cameras in the downtown core.

City police ran a survey last spring to determine what Barrie citizens felt should be the prime concern of the force.

"It really helps in establishing our priorities," Const. Toni Dufour said. "This survey gives us a bird's eye view of what's important to the people of Barrie. We're really pleased to have this feedback."

While only 377 people responded to the survey that was on the police force's website between March 7 to April 15, that's up from 192 respondents in 2010.

Dufour points out that not all respondents replied to every question asked. Around 300 people responded to most questions, however, so they were able to get a good feel for how most people felt about certain topics.

Overall, 60% of respondents said they were satisfied or very satisfied with Barrie policing, while 23.9% said they were dissatisfied and another 14.4% said they were very dissatisfied.

With respect to their neighbourhoods, only 17% said they were very concerned about crime prevention, while 29% said they were only moderately concerned. More than 20% said they weren't worried about crime prevention in their community and 16% said 'not at all' worried.

Yet, they did list break and enter crimes and traffic management or speeding or impaired driving, as their biggest concerns.

Residents said they would like to see a larger police presence in their neighbourhoods, including both cruiser and foot patrols.

The majority of respondents, almost 78.6%, said they favoured closed circuit cameras in the downtown core; 17% said no to cameras, and about 4% said they had no opinion.

Dufour said she believes that because the severity or violent crime index that came out early this year reflected an 8.6% drop in violent crime, more residents are concerned with day-to-day concerns, such as traffic, than they would have been in previous years.

cbrowne@thebarrieexaminer.com