Crime Prevention Week raises awareness and builds connections

Const. Darren Fischer, community resource and media relations officer with the Stratford Police Service (SPS), poses outside of Stratford District Secondary School when the service came to host a bike registry for crime prevention week on Nov. 5.

CONNOR LUCZKA, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

According to Const. Darren Fischer, community resource and media relations officer with the Stratford Police Service (SPS), the annual Crime Prevention Week in Stratford and abroad is about raising awareness and building community connections.

“I think it's just important that we continue to work with community partners and with the community in general to improve our relationship with everybody,” Fischer told the Times. “Because it takes everybody working together to create a safe community.”

The week is a national initiative that happens every year through the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police and its provincial equivalents. This year’s theme in Ontario is “Awareness in Action: Keeping Ontario Safe Together.”

To that end, a plethora of events across the SPS jurisdiction took place. Kicking off the week was a car seat clinic at the St. Marys Fire Hall on Nov. 3. Then, on Nov. 5, the SPS hosted a bike registry at Stratford District Secondary School using Project 529.

The latter was one example of the week’s importance.

During the school’s lunch hour, Fischer and Const. Aaron Mounfield, along with volunteers from the school, gave information on the Project 529 resource, which is a registry app that makes identifying and returning stolen bicycles much easier.

With free hot dogs grilled by the Optimist Club, Fischer and Mounfield registered a few bikes and showed how students can register online.

“It's really important to highlight the partnership that we have with the school board and with schools in the City of Stratford,” Fischer said. “We truly do see the value of having police officers present in the schools, interacting with youth and helping guide them through all of the many different issues that are occurring in today's world.”

Additionally, on Nov. 6 and 7 “Coffee With a Cop” events were held in St. Marys and Stratford, as well as an open house at 45 Buckingham Dr. in Stratford.

The week culminated with an appearance at the Stratford Warriors game in the William Allman Arena, where Fischer had an information booth and dropped the ceremonial puck to open the game.

“We would like to thank everyone for their participation at all our events throughout the week,” a final post on the SPS’ Facebook page reads. “The police are the public and the public are the police. Without such great community members this community wouldn't be the amazing place it is!”