La Loche rejects crime-prevention strategy
Several months before the shooting tragedy on Jan. 22, La Loche town leaders decided to reject a popular crime-prevention model designed in Prince Albert. But town officials insist they didn’t reject a crime-prevention strategy all together.
La Loche already has organizations in place that help with crime-prevention, and wanted a North Saskatchewan specific program, La Loche Friendship Centre executive director Leonard Montgrand said.
“We’re such a small community,” he said. “We have inter-agency meetings every month. Just about every organization in town comes together. We have a lot of programs out there in the community in terms of strengthening families using intervention and so forth.”
The model they rejected is referred to as the HUB. It’s designed to reduce demands on the justice system by taking out cases that can be dealt with by other agencies.