Businesses concerned as crime rates rise say more police needed on site

By Tamas Miko

Business owners in downtown Windsor are concerned as crime has increased over the years one business owner says mental health issues and addictions might have ties to crime activities.

According to Statistics Canada, between 2016 and 2017 the crime rates jumped from about 67 per cent to around 71 per cent in Windsor. Violent crimes rose by more than 12 per cent in only one year.  As a result of the increase in crimes, business owners are concerned about their property and their customers.  

Tom Lucier, owner of Phog Lounge, decided to take action and began patrolling the streets during the night after a few incidents happened around his business. He said that he saw people walking around in the area with flashlights, backpacks and acting suspicious which attracted his attention in past years. His new patrol has four people who are watching the streets when it comes to looking out for the business. They are all volunteers.

Lucier said troublemakers avoid them when they see him and others standing outside of Phog Lounge. He said his friends, the neighbours and people who work around the area are getting their cars broken into. He said it is worth being out there trying to prevent thefts. However, there is another issue that has ties to the occurring crimes in the neighborhood and it needs to be fixed, said Lucier.

“Ultimately the main problem, the addiction problem and the mental health problem is the thing that needs to be fixed,” said Lucier. “That is the root cause of all this other stuff.” 

Lucier estimates, there has been 100 incidents around the area in the last two years. He said there are not enough resources for people who are sick, homeless or have some kind of mental illness. 

“There are three crisis workers for Essex County. I need nine down here every Tuesday. There is a lot of sick people around, a lot of them are just sick,” said Lucier. 

 Avnesh Patel is an employee at Pizza Pizza on the corner of Ouellette and University Avenues. He said every weekend people get in fights. While working until 2 a.m. he sees many incidents on a regular basis. He said when people are drinking or taking drugs they lose control and that is when problems occur. 

“The shooting, that is a big problem,” said Patel. “So many people fight with each other like every Saturday at least one,” 

According to Patel, there is no trouble on weekdays. He said Friday and Saturday is when the problems start to get serious. Patel said his manager would collect signatures from the nearby businesses, hoping police would be present at the restaurant on the weekends. 

There used to be fewer police around but after the recent shooting outside of the business is always a patrol car in sight. He said more patrols are needed in the downtown core to prevent crimes from happening and make downtown safe again. 

“You can be angry that your things are being stolen but people are not in their right mind. You have to be compassionate,” said Lucier. “These are people. These are someone’s family, someone’s son, someone’s you know dad or mom. It is sad, it is really sad,”