Mayor wants private security to address safety concerns in downtown Midland

Midland Ont. (CTVNews/Rob Cooper)

Rising concerns about safety among business owners and shoppers in downtown Midland have town officials exploring new measures to improve public security.

"People have been experiencing an increase in homelessness and vagrancy and loitering, and panhandling, and the general sense of feeling uneasy in the downtown core impacts our business," Mayor Bill Gordon said.

To address these issues, Gordon is advocating for private security to patrol the downtown area and other spots identified as crime "hotspots" to deter and detect bad behaviour.

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The Town said the proposed program would involve collaboration with the OPP on monitoring and reporting incidents of crime.

Detachment commander with Southern Georgian Bay, Todd Pittman, said the effort needs to go beyond the badge.

"I think it's a whole of community approach. So that's not just the police services. It's our community service providers - that could be private security companies - looking at the businesses and helping the business owners. So I'm fully on board for anything that we could do to make our community safe," Pittman added.

Longtime business owner Wanda Arreola, co-owner of Image Salon, said she had noticed changes in the community over the years and would welcome increased security measures. "I don't know ... but it's definitely not safe."

The mayor hopes council will discuss the program by January. If approved, Gordon would like to have it operational by spring.