Edmonton police responded to a homicide call on Friday morning, marking the city's 25th homicide of the year. An alarming statistic, considering that at this time in 2010 there had only been seven homicides in our city.
The city's acting police chief, David Korol addressed the homicide situation on Friday, saying that there are "way too many for a city of this size" in a written release.
Korol also reminded Edmontonians that most of the homicides happened as disputes between people who know each other, and were not committed by strangers.
"If you are an Edmontonian who goes about your everyday business in a normal fashion, you are very safe. It is highly unlikely that you will become involved in a homicide." Korol says.
Many of the homicides this year have happened in Edmonton's inner city, a fact that is not lost on those who work with that community.
"It's a tough life out there right now." says Sandy Ericson of the Boyle Street Community Services Safety Program.
Ericson says the current economic climate makes it more difficult for those who are already in difficult situations to get housing help.
Addictions and mental health issues also play a role.
"Anger builds up. When you're in this situation for 10-20 years, at some point you're going to snap, without resources."
Ericson suggests that enforcement is not the problem, and the some unorthodox methods might be needed to curb the situation.
"We need to look at housing to people on addictions, like wet shelters, where they get their share of liquor everyday." she says.
"We need safe injection sites for people who are injecting drugs."
The problem, and the possible solutions will be a top priority for the Edmonton Police Service, as they prepare to welcome a new chief.
Chief Designate Rod Knecht will start his new role later this month.
"The new chief is going to have to get on this right away." Mayor Mandel said. "I've talked to the chair of the commission, our office has been very proactive in this, and the police are doing all they can do. I think we need to do more statistical analysis to see if we can find out what's going on. It's frusturating for everybody."
But despite the high homicide rate, police are reminding Edmontonians that overall, crime rates are down in 2011.
"In the midst of this homicide increase, you can take some comfort in knowing that Edmonton’s rates of both violent crime and property crime have decreased from last year." Korol said. "What we are seeing with this rash of homicides so far in 2011 is contrary to what the trend has been since 2005."
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