Community safety has been at the top of mind for many Langley City residents and businesses for as long as I’ve lived in this community. While it is important that we continue to invest in basic public safety resources such as police and fire, it is clear that we need to do something different to help move from a reactive to a more proactive public safety model. Council wanted to do this in a way that directly involves our community, giving them the resources they need to develop a made-in-Langley-City solution to create a safer community.
Langley City convened a Citizens’ Assembly on Community Safety. 29 people were selected to serve on the assembly via a lottery process that also ensured the assembly members were a representative sample of our community's demographics.
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| What is Langley City's Citizens’ Assembly? Select the image to enlarge. |
Over the last year, they got to work and presented their recommendations on Monday night, which Council endorsed. The Assembly made seven recommendations, and I wanted to outline them over the next week or so.
The first recommendation was to stand up Resilient Neighbourhood Networks (RNNs). Safety starts at the neighbourhood level. People need to both be safe and actually feel safe. Strong neighbourhood-level connections between people are a proven way to build trust, reduce fear, and foster a sense of ownership in their community. When people come together, it also gives them the opportunity to actively improve their neighbourhood's safety, whether through emergency preparedness, first aid training, neighbourhood safety walks, learning from first responders, or social gatherings to build neighbourhood cohesion. This helps shift towards a more proactive safety model.
The City will support the creation of the RNNs and will pilot them in several neighbourhoods this year, starting now. The City will be sending out information on how people can get involved.
I will be posting about the next recommendations next week.
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