Adam Prudhomme
Beaver Staff
Greater Napanee has made a not-so-desirable year end list, earning the nod as Canada’s 147th most dangerous place, as per a study conducted by Maclean’s Magazine based on the Crime Severity Index.
While that study, which was published last week, may come as a shock to longtime residents, a little context puts a whole different spin on the numbers.
“The statistics I would say are somewhat misleading,” said Juliane Porritt, an officer with the Napanee OPP.
While she doesn’t dispute that Greater Napanee could well be seventh in Ontario for impaired driving charges and 24th in Canada for cannabis trafficking charges, a closer look explains why the 16,000 town population would have such high numbers.
“Our impaired driving stats are high, which is a good thing because it means that officers are being proactive in their patrols and they’re finding the impaired drivers and they’re being charged,” said Porritt.
Their coverage area is also a major factor, which spans 88 km of Hwy 401.
“We go from the On Route east of Odessa all the way to mile marker 509, which is Brighton. We have quite an extensive portion of the 401,” said Porritt.
Anyone charged within that corridor counts toward Greater Napanee’s stats.
Napanee OPP also has a traffic safety division, which focuses solely on drivers.
The same can be said for cannabis and other drug related charges.
“We have a drug unit here out of Napanee that has three officers in it,” she said.
Similar to impaired driving, any driver who is caught with illegal drugs within the Napanee OPP’s district, that charge would be recorded as having occurred in Greater Napanee even if the driver was from out of town and just passing through on Canada’s busiest highway.
Adding to Greater Napanee’s ranking was a 639.78 assault rate per 100,000 population, which is higher than the Canadian average of 430.68. While those assaults may be taking place within the town’s boundaries, a lot of them are confined to one particular area.
“They talk about assaults, the biggest assaults that we see come out of Quinte Regional Detention Centre,” said Porritt. “There’s fights there often and they’re reported to us.”
That’s not to say the town doesn’t have its issues. Porritt says they do have a problem with prescribed medications being sold illegally.
“We have three methadone clinics in Napanee,” she said. “That’s a large number of clinics for a small population.”
Impaired driving is also a concern, even within the town’s boundaries. With the holiday season approaching, those numbers tend to climb this time of year. That’s why the local OPP will be stepping up their presence with their annual Festive RIDE program. They’ll be setting up checkpoints through the region, on both busy and side streets at all hours of the day.
“It’s a deterrent,” she said of the increased police presence on the streets. “It tells people that we’re out there and it’ll deter people from thinking ‘I haven’t had that much, I can drive home’. The whole idea with RIDE is visibility, deterrence as well as enforcement.”
They’ve already started this year’s campaign and will continue to set up at random locations throughout New Years.
Anyone attending a holiday party with alcohol this season is encouraged to plan ahead for a safe ride home.