St. JOHN'S, July 7, 2008 - Today the Honourable Stockwell Day, Minister of Public Safety, along with the Honourable Loyola Hearn, Minister of Fisheries and Oceans and Regional Minister for Newfoundland and Labrador, announced an investment of $282,180 to support a crime prevention project called Building Knowledge for Community Safety in Newfoundland and Labrador.
This initiative, managed by the Newfoundland and Labrador Statistics Agency,will assist communities to develop evidence-based community safety profiles. The project will gather crime data at the local level and correlate it with known risk factors for future criminal behaviour. This information will enable governments, communities and law enforcement to make informed decisions as to where they should focus their crime prevention efforts. It will also help communities to demonstrate and evaluate their results while enhancing our knowledge of what works.
"The Government of Canada is committed to enhancing community safety in Newfoundland and Labrador," said Minister Day. "This initiative will help various levels of government determine appropriate intervention strategies to address the risk factors specific to their communities."
The funding for this project comes from the National Crime Prevention Strategy for which the Government of Canada provided $30 million per year in additional, ongoing funds. This will help support initiatives that contribute to preventing and reducing crime, as well as increasing knowledge about what works to prevent crime more effectively. Priorities for funding include:
- addressing early risk factors among vulnerable children and youth;
- preventing youth gang and drug-related crime;
- preventing recidivism among high-risk groups; and
- fostering prevention in Aboriginal communities.
The Strategy is administered by Public Safety Canada's National Crime Prevention Centre (NCPC) and is managed in collaboration with the provinces and territories.
Information:
Media Relations
Public Safety Canada
613-991-0657
Mélisa Leclerc
Director of Communications
Office of the Honourable Stockwell Day
Minister of Public Safety
613-991-2863
