Provincial Crime Prevention and Anti-Crime Initiatives

-- Safer Communities and Neighbourhoods (SCAN): SCAN improves community safety by targeting and, if necessary, shutting down residential and commercial buildings and land that are regularly used for illegal activities. SCAN gives citizens the tools to report problem residences and businesses, and gives authorities the power to investigate and take action.

-- Civil Forfeiture: The Department of Justice seeks civil court approval to have property or cash turned over to the province when there is evidence of wrong-doing but criminal charges are not laid. In cases where charges are laid, and property is not seized by an enforcement agency or forfeited by the criminal court, the department can ask civil court to turn the property over to the province. 

–Criminal Intelligence Services of Nova Scotia (CISNS): The goal of CISNS is to share information and intelligence to prevent, detect and disrupt organized and serious crime. Funding from the province ensures there are resources focus on gathering and disseminating criminal intelligence in all areas of the province.

– Provincial Firearms Program: This program administers and enforces the Canadian Firearms Act on behalf of the federal government to ensure firearm safety in Nova Scotia. There is a strict system of controlling restricted firearms in the province and police checks and safety courses are required to buy a gun and ammunition.

-- Lighthouses Program: This community crime prevention and reduction investment initiative is intended to support community crime prevention programs. Twenty organizations receive an annual grant to provide recreational, educational, cultural, life-skills or after-school programming for youth throughout Nova Scotia.

-- Restorative Justice Program: Nova Scotia is a world leader in restorative justice. This justice process holds offenders accountable in a more meaningful way, repairs the harm caused by the offence, reintegrates the offender, and achieves a sense of healing for the victim and the community.

-- Crime Prevention: The crime prevention approach for the coming year looks at crime in a new way by addressing the many factors that cause people to get involved in criminal activity. This approach focuses on the root causes of crime and emphasizes the need for government, community, police, individuals and others to work together to combat crime.

-- Additional Officer Program: The province invests $17 million annually to put about 175 additional law enforcement resources in communities across the province. About $5 million of that is for law enforcement resources for Halifax Regional Municipality. This enhances the enforcement response that Halifax Regional Police and RCMP Halifax District can provide.

-- Crime Analysts Province wide: This year, the province has introduced crime analysts for each region. These experts will look at criminal trends and patterns. Then police can develop priorities, focus resources, and target their activities.

-- Ceasefire Chicago: This spring, government, community leaders and police sponsored a conference in Halifax to learn more about combatting gun violence. Representatives from the innovative Ceasefire Chicago program, spoke to 85 participants. The program has dramatically reduced gun violence in Chicago and other communities using a public health model. Government and police partners are working to bring the program to HRM.

-- Community Crime Prevention and Reduction Grant Program: This $50,000 annual investment supports community crime prevention organizations across Nova Scotia to help fight crime and make families and communities safer.

-- Minister's Award for Leadership in Crime Prevention: The award recognizes individuals and businesses that make their communities safer.

-- Nova Scotia Rewards for Major Unsolved Crimes Program: The Department of Justice offers a cash reward of up to $150,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for the cases in the program. The program gives another tool for law enforcement to use in solving crime. There are 63 cases in the program.

-- Domestic Violence Court: A first for Nova Scotia, the domestic violence court in Sydney offers quicker program access for those who commit abuse, so they can change their behaviour and prevent future violence. It also helps keep victims and their children safe.

-- Mental Health Court: The court's goal is to treat Nova Scotians with mental disorders who commit criminal offences fairly and compassionately, and to help them improve their mental health to reduce the risk to public safety.

More information on provincial crime prevention initiatives available at www.gov.ns.ca/just.

Halifax Regional Police and RCMP Halifax District Crime Prevention and Anti-Crime Initiatives

-- Comstat: Every three weeks, senior police managers and crime analysts look at raw data, consult with patrol members, and identify the areas where crime is happening and which offenders are known to be active in those areas -- and then target those areas. 

-- Operation Breach: High-risk offenders who have been released into the community on court conditions are consistently checked to ensure that they are in compliance with the terms of their release. This continual monitoring minimizes the opportunity for these individuals, many of whom are considered prolific offenders, to engage in repeat criminal activity. 

-- Crime-Free Multi-Housing: This unique crime prevention program is geared at making apartment communities safer by helping owners, residents and police work together to keep illegal and nuisance activity off rental properties. This program is the first of its kind in Nova Scotia.  

-- Downtown Safety Strategy: From June to October, Halifax Regional Police use targeted patrols of the downtown Halifax bar district between midnight and 5 a.m. from Thursday to Saturday, and on Sundays of a long weekend. 

-- Strategic Approach to Guns and Gangs: This strategic approach includes a partnership of many groups. The Quick Response and Street Crime Units are dedicated to targeting people involved in crime. Patrol officers regularly conduct street checks, traffic stops and monitor those who are on court imposed conditions. These officers also receive specific training on the characteristics of an armed person.

--National Weapons Enforcement Support Team (NWEST): NWEST is a partnership of RCMP/provincial/municipal police service members who are strategically located throughout Canada. Its members are committed to supporting front-line police/public agencies in the gathering of evidence to assist them in successfully prosecuting persons involved in the illegal movement and criminal use of firearms. NWEST officers provide a range of expertise in a number of areas, including but not limited to: firearms information and guidance, investigative advice, firearms identification and classification, serial number recovery and tracing services, and gathering and sharing of firearms intelligence.

-- Patron Accountability Safety and Security (PASS) Program: Launched by the Restaurant Association of Nova Scotia in September 2011, the program is intended to curb alcohol-fuelled issues and violence currently attached to the bar industry in Halifax. Bars and clubs share a database of people who have been banned from establishments due to problem behaviour. Sharing information enables bar owners to enforce strict rules and eventually eliminate banned individuals from gaining access to their establishments. 

--Lifestyle Interviews: Identifying repeat or chronic offenders is one component of successful crime reduction, but enforcement is not the only tool police have in reducing crime rates. Lifestyle interviews are a new component of the Halifax District RCMP overall crime reduction strategy. The District has partnered with probation services to identify those chronic or repeat at-risk offenders. Community Policing Officers then reach out to those individuals in an effort to identify the reasons why they continue to resort to crime to support their lifestyle. Once those reasons are established, Community Policing Officers then attempt to match the individual to existing community support services that can be used to help address any deficiencies.

--Repeated Calls for Service: Having a deep understanding and appropriately managing calls for service is the critical first step toward reducing overall call volume. The Halifax District Crime Analyst examines calls for service to identify where the calls are coming from, and those individuals generating the highest volume of calls. Their focus is on four main areas - domestic violence, youth, noise, and animal complaints. If patrol members are being dispatched to the same address three times during a three week period, a Community Policing Officer is assigned to follow up at the noted address to provide policing services and advice in a non-crisis situation. This tactic is particularly effective in trying to assist in domestic violence situations. This is one example of how community policing can identify root causes of crime, and take proactive steps to reduce the overall crime volume, allowing front line patrol members to focus more on pro-active and preventative duties.

More information about Halifax Regional Police can be found at www.halifax.ca/police . More information about the RCMP in Nova Scotia can be found at www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/ns .