As recent assaults fuel fears, Brandon police working on downtown safety strategy

Chelsea Kemp · CBC News

· Posted: Apr 28, 2025 6:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 10 minutes ago

Working successful downtown Brandon feels harmless for the astir part, but determination tin inactive beryllium moments that consciousness scary, says librarian Erika Martin.

She's been followed her to her car erstwhile she was leaving work. There were besides random attacks adjacent the room successful January and March, she said.

"I surely deliberation it would deter anyone that mightiness person been getting brave capable to travel downtown again," said Martin, manager of room services for the Western Manitoba Regional Library.

"Anytime thing similar that happens, it doesn't help."

She shared her stories astatine caller downtown information strategy meetings with the Brandon Police Service, which held 4 consultation sessions with downtown businesses, societal agencies and residents.

The feedback is intended to assistance create a constabulary information strategy for the downtown halfway successful the metropolis of 54,000.

As convulsive incidents emergence and the opioid situation deepens, constabulary are processing a strategy to negociate increasing telephone volumes and nationalist information concerns.

Police Chief Tyler Bates says currently, astir 36 per cent of the 38,000 yearly work calls successful the metropolis travel from the downtown area, up from an mean of 30 to 33 per cent.

Now, concern owners are calling for much disposable constabulary beingness and investments successful beautification to reconstruct a consciousness of information and vibrancy successful the city's core, and counter disorder and a driblet successful ft traffic.

"Customers don't consciousness harmless coming down here," which hurts the roughly 400 businesses successful the area, said Emmy Sanderson, the enforcement manager of the Brandon Downtown Business Improvement Zone.

Recent assaults, including one near a precocious closed day-time drop-in that near a pistillate dead, have put the downtown successful a atrocious light, she said.

Boots connected the crushed and beautification

Attendees astatine the recent safety meeting created a database of actions to assistance amended the consciousness of safety, she said, including adding cameras, lights and security, arsenic good as beautification efforts similar cleaning sidewalks and removing graffiti. There's besides a propulsion to spot much constabulary patrols downtown.

"If radical commencement to consciousness safe, past those businesses are going to get much business," Sanderson said. "As they get much customers, we volition get much traffic. And arsenic we get much traffic, radical consciousness safer."

Brandon General Museum and Archives administrator Keith Waterfield besides says promoting much ft postulation downtown is essential.

People who sojourn the museum come due to the fact that they're funny successful Brandon history, but tours often see guests asking astir downtown safety, helium said.

The depository is adjacent to the erstwhile drop-in centre where the caller fatal battle happened.

Those types of convulsive incidents discourage radical from visiting the downtown, which lone worsens the problem, helium said.

"Foot traffic, you know, the much radical that are down here, the much radical are going to consciousness safe. That's conscionable the bottommost line," Waterfield said.

Martin said her room has added a information defender and amended lighting outside to assistance springiness a consciousness of safety. The room is besides talking with the metropolis astir adding a 2nd entranceway straight from the street.

The accidental to give feedback astatine the information strategy meetings gives her anticipation alteration is coming to downtown, she said.

"Ultimately, it takes time," Martin said. "We possibly don't person the quality to alteration rules and greater policies, but we tin marque tiny changes. That tin dilatory physique towards thing bigger."

Next steps

Chief Bates says the constabulary work already has plans successful spot to summation its downtown beingness by adding 7 to 8 cadets to the core. 

The work is besides moving connected creating a safewalk programme that would fto radical usage an app to inquire for an escort if they consciousness unsafe.

While he's not definite if the ceremonial downtown information strategy volition beryllium publically shared, definite initiatives volition beryllium communicated to the community, helium said.

Police volition cognize the program is moving if they commencement to spot a simplification successful convulsive crimes, but they besides privation to spot a driblet successful the volume of different types of calls from the core, Bates said.

"We're not going to apprehension our mode retired of this problem," helium said.

"People are astatine the array moving unneurotic to marque Brandon, you know, a harmless metropolis that is economically ... prosperous, portion astatine the aforesaid clip caring for citizens that are undergoing immoderate pronounced challenges that are intelligibly visible."