Sault College students help prevent crime downtown

As the snow began to fall, Crime Stoppers and the Sault Ste. Marie Police Service announced a new initiative on Thursday night.

Two coordinators and eight supervisors will oversee 56 students from Sault College as they patrol the downtown core in the coming months.

It's hoped that the program will prevent all sorts of crime in the city's downtown core while providing students with valuable and real work experience.

Students participating in the program are all enrolled in the criminal justice program at Sault College.

They were among more than 100 Sault College criminal justice students who applied to be involved in the initiative which was organized through the the cooperative efforts of Crime Stoppers, Sault College of Applied Arts and Technology, the Downtown Association, and the Sault Ste. Marie Police Service with support from a number of local businesses and organizations.

Groups of four of the students will be out on a revolving basis during the winter and will be cut down to two students on bikes during the summer.

“We hope that they’re going to prevent more crime than they’re going to actually have to catch,” said Crime Stoppers President Len Bailey.

The students are equipped with cell phones, which gives them easy access to a core group of officers from Sault Ste. Marie Police Service who work the downtown core on a regular basis.

Bailey said the plan is to have the students working the area all year.

The time students spend on patrol as part of the initiative will go toward the volunteer hours needed to complete their criminal justice program at Sault College.

“It helps the students get some experience and it helps the police, who will have four more sets of eyes to prevent crime,” said Bailey.

The route the students will patrol begins at the intersection of Pim and Queen Streets and runs through downtown all the way to the Ontario Information Centre near the casino.

It includes the area along the boardwalk as well.