City hall preparing a new public safety plan

Halifax city hall is preparing a new public safety plan, and the municipality is seeking input from area residents and workers.

An online survey was posted by Halifax Regional Municipality staff last month. Respondents can provide feedback until Dec. 7.

A local consultant is helping staff tackle the safety issue. A plan, once approved by regional council, would be in place from 2023 to 2026.

“The goal of this survey is to understand which of the strategic priorities and activities are most important to you and your community,” the municipality’s website says.

The survey is based on a draft strategy and asks people to rate seven proposed priorities.

In addition to the questionnaire, city hall staff this fall scheduled two virtual and one in-person consultation sessions.

For the purposes of the municipality’s plan, public safety is defined this way: “Reducing risks and enhancing protective factors for individuals and communities and creating effective responses to harms where they occur.”

Survey questions include those hooked to “preventing harm through alternative responses for street-involved persons,” developing a “broader spectrum for emergency and non-emergency responses” and “preventing and responding to harmful patterns of alcohol and drug use.”

Halifax council authorized the previous public safety plan (2018-22) in October 2017. It was the municipality’s first.

For more information on HRM’s new safety framework, and the online survey, go here:

Michael Lightstone is a freelance reporter living in Dartmouth