A SAFE CITY

Amid the talk of drug-related crime downtown, it's been easy to lose
sight of the broader truth: Ottawa is a safe city.

Crime statistics for 2006, released by the police this week, bear
that out. Violent crime is down. Property crimes are down very
slightly overall, though burglaries are down nearly 12 per cent.
Dangerous-driving charges are down, and so are injuries in traffic
collisions. Police response times to urgent calls are getting
shorter. Some crime-rate increases might seem large -- such as the
20-per-cent jump in Kanata North -- but only because the actual
numbers of offences is so low.

This is important to remember when we consider what to do about
rising rates of property crime in the downtown Somerset and
Rideau-Vanier wards. And indeed, those are striking: Property crime
was up 12.4 per cent in Rideau-Vanier last year amid a citywide
decline of 0.1 per cent. That is not a statistical fluke -- it's a
sign of a real problem that needs to be dealt with before it gets worse.

The problems are not widespread, which means they'll likely respond
well to suitably focused solutions, if the police and city council
and city staff can come up with them.

Killing the city-sponsored clean-crack-pipe program was a knee-jerk
act that solved nothing; improving drug treatment options in Ottawa
is a vital next step.

Still: Ottawa is not falling apart, and anyone who says differently
hasn't looked at the facts.