Bennett vows to stop drug dealing downtown

‘Enough is enough,’ mayor says, pledging to work with police

Mayor Daryl Bennett says he’s tired of drug deals happening in plain sight downtown and that if re-elected, his first priority will be to deal with “drug-related problems” in the core.

At a policy announcement at Gentry Apparel on George St. N. on Wednesday, Bennett told a gathering of supporters that “enough is enough” when it comes to downtown drug deals.

He pledged that within three months of re-election, he and a new council would have the problems under control.

“I will speculate that each one of us here today have seen drugrelated deals or appearances of deals happening openly — brazenly, without fear of repercussion — in our downtown,” he said.

“The community is tired of hearing that we should only continue dealing with the top of the drug-dealing chain, not the street-level dealers in front of our businesses, in front of residences, in front of our children …. We will bring an end to the abuse of our downtown.”

The mayor said his proposal won’t necessarily mean hiring additional officers or renewing the recently-ended pilot project that put officers on dedicated foot patrol downtown for the summer.

Instead he’ll take an “openminded approach”, he said, and will listen to newly hired Police Chief Scott Gilbert’s recommendations.

“He (Gilbert) is going to look at a deployment strategy, and we’re going to support our police in whatever way it takes to get this under control,” Bennett said.

The mayor also said that although he sees a need for services such as rehab, there’s still a need to enforce society’s laws.

When asked whether he thinks there’s enough housing to meet the needs of people who may be doing these drug deals downtown, the mayor said yes.

“We have adequate stock of everything that is needed in the community to support those who are in true need, in my estimation,” he said. “I believe that to be very factual.”

Except it’s not factual, said Coun Diane Therrien, who is running for mayor against Bennett.

In an interview later Wednesday, Therrien said there’s a housing crisis in the city: thousands of people are waiting years to get rent-geared-to-income, she said.

Therrien also called for a “comprehensive” drug rehab program.

There is certainly an opioid problem in Peterborough, Therrien said, but she doesn’t think much of Bennett’s approach to curbing it.

“You can’t just arrest your way out of it — that’s not going to get to the root of the problem,” she said.

Terry Guiel, executive director of the Downtown BIA, said Wednesday the downtown is safe — but there’s “a perception issue” plaguing the core.

“When people see the homeless or see panhandlers, they think crime,” Guiel said, though that the downtown isn’t crime-ridden at all.

Although Guiel said he supports the mayor’s “stronghanded” approach to combatting crime when it occurs, he thinks there’s more that can be done: installing security cameras downtown, for example, or putting police on permanent foot patrol downtown.

Guiel also said he’d like to see the city and provincial governments funding these initiatives, rather than depending on the DBIA to do so.

“Right now, I think as a community, we’re all failing.”

The municipal election is Oct. 22.