Meeting began at 5:09PM.
The Land Acknowledgement was said.
Meeting began by introducing guest speaker Marty Gold to speak on the city of Winnipeg’s bike lane plans.
If you would like to learn about the bike lanes, you can find more on Marty Gold’s podcast “The Great Canadian Talk Show Podcast”, linked here:
After the guest speaker, the meeting formally began.
Points we covered:
Always Call Police
Always call police. While they may not show up, or do anything about the issue, you’re still putting a pin in their board for the area. If everyone reports, then the police can’t ignore the statistics; the area has a problem and needs help. However, at the moment we run into the issue that the majority of businesses gave up on reporting. Police can’t act on an area where there aren’t any calls, so reminding people to always call police is one step we can take to increase police presence in the area.
Additionally, calling in crimes to services like Crime Stoppers will help put that pin in the board as well. Know a building that isn’t safe? Calling services like Safer Communities can help as well, reporting buildings that constantly give businesses and residents alike grief.
Get to Know People in the Area
Getting to know the people in the area, talking, and communicating can help greatly when trying to reduce crime. People are less inclined to steal from your business or harm you if they know who you are. Sometimes, giving someone a hand once or twice can go a long way. This lead into the next point…
Show Kindness Until You Can’t
When someone comes in yelling and being aggressive, be kind. Offer a water, or a pop, maybe even a bag of chips. Staying calm, and being kind can go a long way for some people. Sometimes, people won’t accept your kindness. Try to bring them outside, and stay kind until you physically can’t be anymore.
Do Not Engage in Violence
Two shop owners in the West End have been shot for trying to physically stop a theft. Your life is worth more than a bag of chips. Spoke about robbery prevention and how while you shouldn’t stop a thief, reporting them, and what they look like, could be just as valuable.
Getting Information Out To All Businesses
We spoke about the value of information. Making sure every business knows these points; staying kind, how to report, why to report, etc. Can make the difference in improving the area. We also spoke about establishing a network, or a way businesses can interact in real time. This is something we hope to work on in the future. Businesses being able to communicate with one another can bring warnings about people who are causing issues, help for where they purchase signage, the whole bit.
Taking Accountability
We ended the meeting on the topic of accountability. Specifically, on buying stolen goods. If you want theft to stop, or lessen, you can’t support the habit. Additionally, especially when it comes to food and such the like, buying stolen product has no guarantees on where it came from, what it’s touched, or how old it is. If we want to stop the theft, we have to stop supporting it.
The meeting came to a close at 6:05 PM, opening the floor to general discussion.
Thank you to all those who came out to discuss!
Our next meeting will be held at X-Cues Cafe and Entertainment Centre, January 4th, at 5PM. We hope to see you there.