City eyes security firm to patrol downtown
By Chris Jones/The Oshawa Express
A private security company is being sought to monitor bad behaviour in downtown Oshawa.
The City of Oshawa is negotiating with private security company CDN Protection Ltd. to patrol the downtown core where people have been found “defecating on sidewalks…changing in public,” according to Ward 3 City Councillor Bradley Marks, who presented the motion at a recent special council meeting.
The motion for staff to look into hiring the private security firm received unanimous support from council.
“What first came to our attention is there had been some incidents downtown where we had noticed some serious unlawful behaviour,” says Marks, noting these incidents would specifically occur downtown near Memorial Park.
He adds there’s also been reports from community services staff members who have had to clean up the mess around the area.
“We’re talking human waste, we’re talking things of this nature around the downtown area,” he says.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, Marks says pedestrian traffic has “halted” downtown, causing these issues to come to light.
There was also a letter sent to council from Jeff Warford, the CEO of the Oshawa Clinic Group, regarding the Oshawa Downtown Business Improvement Area’s (BIA) 2020 budget.
The letter indicated they were having problems in their area as well.
“Doubling the BIA budget year over year won’t change the fact that our employees regularly fear walking to and from their vehicles every day at offsite parking lots,” he writes. “We regularly have patients, physicians and employees accosted.”
He also writes homeless residents are “defecating” on clinic property, there is vandalism, and a drug problem in Oshawa’s downtown.
While Marks explains he can’t corroborate the claims made by Warford in his letter, he wants to give the workers at the clinic and downtown some “piece of mind.”
“It was decided we should solicit some quotes from some security companies outside and above what the police can do to assist with limiting this sort of antisocial behaviour,” he explains.
Marks says negotiations with CDN are ongoing, but the area covered by the company would include the BIA area, as well as other problem areas downtown.
He adds the territory covered could include spots outside of the BIA area.
For those who might be feeling nervous about the city hiring a security firm to work downtown, Marks says this is a difficult decision “at every level.”
“We want to create an atmosphere that is caring to the individual, but ensures that people are not creating such a disturbance in the downtown core, that it is detrimental to the health and safety of some of the people that are trying to make a living… to live… and to enjoy the beautification of our city,” he says.
He believes it isn’t appropriate for the city to simply “wave a flag and surrender Memorial Park” because it honours those who have died fighting in battle.
“Antisocial behaviour in those areas should not be tolerated to the point where we’re going in to clean up,” he says. “I think this is something the population at large expects us to take care of.”
He hopes residents will see this as a response that is “compassionate” and necessary.