Community Safety Hub Opens at Dufferin Mall
The new Community Safety Hub at Dufferin Mall demonstrates how the Toronto Police Service is working with community and private-sector partners to address safety concerns at the neighbourhood level, said Deputy Chief Lauren Pogue.
Officially opened on September 14, the Hub provides Neighbourhood Community Officers with a visible and accessible location where they can engage residents, businesses, youth and families, share crime-prevention information and respond to local concerns.
Pogue said the initiative is an example of the Toronto Police Community Safety and Wellbeing Operational Roadmap in action. The Roadmap’s six pillars guide the Service’s efforts to improve how it delivers policing services across the city.
Two of the pillars, partnering better and taking a hyper-local approach, are reflected in the Dufferin Mall initiative.
“Partnering better means finding new ways to strengthen our relationships with the community and with the private sector, so that we can work together to address the most pressing issues,” Pogue said.
Taking a hyper-local approach, she added, gives police the tools to understand not only the needs of a division or neighbourhood, but also the unique circumstances of individual streets and blocks.
“By understanding those unique local realities, we can respond more effectively and deliver solutions that make a real difference where they are needed most,” Pogue noted. “And this is exactly what we are doing here at Dufferin Mall.”
The Hub had a soft launch earlier this year and is already having a positive impact. Pogue said experience at Community Safety Hubs at Fairview Mall and CF Shops at Don Mills has shown that a sustained police presence can help reduce criminal incidents.
“We know that police presence matters,” she said. “It matters for crime prevention and deterrence, including for retail theft, and it matters to have more opportunities to build trust.”
The opening follows the recent expansion of the Neighbourhood Community Officer Program into the Dufferin Grove neighbourhood. The Hub will provide those officers with another place to connect with the people they serve and become more familiar with their concerns.
Superintendent Andrew Ecklund of 11 Division said the location will help officers become more present, accessible and connected to the community.
“The Dufferin Mall Community Safety Hub provides an important opportunity for our Neighbourhood Community Officers to be even more present, accessible and connected to the residents they serve,” he said. “Building strong relationships with the community is at the heart of effective neighbourhood policing. Through ongoing engagement, collaboration and crime prevention, we are working together with residents and community partners to address concerns, build trust and create a safer community for everyone.”
Ecklund added that the hub is a visible demonstration of what can be accomplished when public institutions, private-sector partners, elected representatives, community organizations and residents work toward a common goal.
“Its success will not be measured simply by the number of people who walk through its doors, but by the relationships built, the partnerships strengthened and the opportunities created to support residents, businesses, youth and families throughout the community,” he said.
Pogue thanked Ecklund and the 11 Division team, Dufferin Mall representatives and community partners for supporting the initiative.
“The work we’re doing is only possible when we work together,” she said. “So, let’s continue building on that partnership and doing everything we can to ensure our communities are, and feel, safe.”
