Police board chair tells mayor he's out of touch with crime prevention

The chair of the Ottawa Police Services Board says the mayoris out of touchwith the work being done to combat crime in the city.

Gloucester-Southgate Coun. Diane Deanspublicly released a scathing letterto Mayor Jim Watson Thursday afternoon after Watson met with the police chief and other leaders about violent crime last weekend.

At Wednesday's meeting, Watson announced the creation of a leadership table ofcommunity partners to work on a holistic solution to crime in the city. He also said there would likely be more money for police.

Deans said she wasn't invited.

She is the chair of Crime Prevention Ottawa along with the police services boardand told CBC she spends several hours a day working on these issues.

She saidshe doesn't know why she was left out, but charged that the mayor does not engage with members of council who don't agree with him and she would have disagreed withmore police funding.

"I thought that was far too simplistic a solution to a very complex issue," she said.

Watson's press secretary told CBC News in an emailthe mayor meets "almost daily" with various leaders and officials to address city-wide concerns.

Patrick Champagne saidWatson is always open to talking with councillors about their concerns, but the mayor's office has no record of Deans reaching out after two shootings and a stabbing over the long weekend.

Plan already in the works

In Deans' letter, she offers to "introduce" the mayor to existing work including the city's community safety and well-being plan, which she saidis in its final stages.

It's expected to be presented to the city's community and protective services committee this fall.

She said the draft plan focuses on the same issuesthe mayor wants addressed: discrimination, poverty reduction, housing and mental well-being.

"We need to look at all the root causes and we need to be properly funding youth programming, housing and food security issues," she said, addingshe was impressed with police Chief Peter Sloly's statements to this effect.

She also pointed to Crime Prevention Ottawaandplans byOttawa police and city staff to develop a mental health response strategy.

"When the mayor leaves the impression that we're underfunding the police and that we need to form a committee to address these issues, it sounds like there isn't important work happening in our community. And there certainly is," she said.

She said she wrote Watson a few months ago with an offer for her, as police board chair and police Chief Peter Sloly to present quarterly updates to council which she said Watson declined.