Quote:
Originally Posted by afc wimbledon
There is no increased crime due to an SIS, there may be a change of the location of crime but the same number of junkies have to feed the same level of addiction how ever as a society we regulate that addiction, as SIS's are by necessity located where the junkies are already congregating I suspect it doesn't even change the location of crime to any great degree.
The SIS in Vancouver is on Hastings and Main, an area not renowned for its lack of crime before Insite moved in, the SIS has made no difference to anything there at all other than overdose rates and the HIV and Hep infection rate, these are down, as a taxpayer I am happy I don't have to pay for vast numbers of infected addicts to have very expensive treatment for easily avoidable diseases.
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What sorta bugs me is that people can't seem to figure this part out. I agree there is no overall increase in crime in the city. Why everyone gets excited about this stat is beyond me because IMO it's completely useless.
However, people keep mixing this aspect with the increase of the crime in the surrounding community. Hastings and Main probably saw a negligible change in the overall demographic and crime shift before and after Insite. The communities directly around the SIS in Calgary went from a decently nice neighborhood close to the core to something equivalent perhaps to the demographic of the drop in centre soon after implementation. There was a far more obvious and jarring shift in crime and undesirable events in the surrounding communities immediately after the SIS opened. The surrounding communities tried to request CPS/Municipal/Provincial support to aid an incremental shift (or to deter concentration of the shift completely into the surrounding communities) but were ignored and left to deal with a skyrocketing shift in crime to the community on their own. Businesses have closed and many have immediately moved away as a direct result of the way the SIS was implemented.
It sucks that the surrounding community, which was open to accepting the SIS, was essentially required to bear a significantly heavier burden than the community was able to accept. On top of this, the community was required to receive this burden with ridicule and little support from those implementing the program. A dent in the quality of life was expected over the cratering of the quality of life in the community.
Metaphorically, it felt like someone with a home willing to offer their entire basement to help store things for the greater good of everyone. Instead, they ended up watching so much stuff aimlessly piled into the entire home that the end result resembled a hoarder's house. We're willing to help, but instead it feels like residents were considered a nuisance in establishing the greater good with the SIS a symbol of this treatment.
If the surrounding community is going to continue to be treated like a nuisance, then screw the rest of ya'll, get the SIS out of there. This would be unfortunate because it is a valuable resource to the city and the Chumir is a location that makes a ton of sense. I really don't think it's unreasonable for the community wanting to feel like an equal partner, rather than a beaten spouse in the relationship. The smallest of steps have been made towards appeasing the community, but no where close to what should have been done and what needs to be done to achieve this.