Hamilton police beat officers in downtown to stay, but expansion of initiative unclear

A “Core Patrol” that puts dedicated Hamilton Police (HPS) officers in the downtown 9 to 5 to aid businesses is something the service plans to keep, but potential expansion of this initiative is up in the air.

Chief Frank Bergen believes the beat cop program, kicked off in the spring to address a rash of shoplifting, panhandling and property damage has “effected change” largely through better communication with the community.

“I actually think that we’re going to keep sustaining and making sure that it’s there because there is an impact,” said Bergen. “There is…an improvement in the way we are communicating with our downtown businesses.”

However, an uncertain 2024 budget and staffing challenges with many retirements, resignations and large numbers of officers going on sick leave in the past year may effect growth of the project.

“We’re doing everything we can to meet the demands of our community, but meeting those demands means we’ll have to expand our partnerships,” Bergen explained.

The patrols, policing an area encompassing Wellington, Bay, Cannon and Hunter streets, have officers engaging individuals, businesses and stakeholders in feedback, and doing what they can to improve community safety and well-being.

Positives in the last eight months include opportunities to link aspects of the patrols with other support services like the rapid intervention team, offering case management for those facing homelessness, mental illness or addiction, according to Bergen.

“What I can highlight is that over the five days of our Grey Cup celebrations and the activities that were happening in the core, we heard nothing but very positive feedback of how the city was dealing with some of the many, many challenges,” he revealed.

Leaders of two Hamilton, Ont., businesses, Denninger’s Foods and G W Thompson Jeweller and Pawnbroker told Global News in May the police presence helped with aggressive behaviour that had been plaguing the neighbourhood.

At the time, Denninger’s Foods revealed about 73 per cent of staff who participated in an internal survey said they didn’t feel safe walking in the store’s parking lot at King and Spring streets when it got dark.

The measure was in response to early 2023 property crime numbers that were in the range of 200 incidents per month in Ward 2 downtown.

Bergen says a detailed analysis using technology, like GPS monitors, is happening to track officers’ activities and potentially provide an outline for where patrols should go in the new year.

“The one thing that I saw in many years of policing is that we always used to think … we got a problem, we got to put a cop on there,” said Bergen. “What truly should occur, is that you should already be in the area that you anticipate the challenges to be. So I think that core policing initiative has done just that.”