When Beaver Hills House and Michael Phair parks reopened in Downtown Edmonton in March, about six months behind schedule, the city boasted the new dual space was for the enjoyment of “those who live, work and play in Edmonton’s Downtown core.”
If the city meant those who live on the streets, work at staying warm and fed, and regularly “play” with illegal drugs and excess alcohol, then the description was accurate. Only two months after the refurbished parks reopened, they are already identified by the Edmonton Police Service (EPS) as a crime hotspot.
Data-Driven Policing Strategy
When EPS Chief Warren Driechel announced last Friday that the police would now be targeting problem areas around town — such as fentanyl houses and the Southgate transit centre — in an attempt to reduce crime, Beaver Hills and Michael Phair parks were already being flagged as “trouble spots” by the Edmonton Downtown Business Association. Driechel’s idea to use computer analysis to direct police activity is a good one, even if it is not particularly novel.
Before Rudy Giuliani became a mindless apologist to U.S. President Donald Trump, he was a fantastic mayor with a huge impact on crime in New York City. During his two terms as mayor from 1994 to 2001, Giuliani and his police commissioners, William Bratton and Howard Safir, developed a data-driven program called CompStat that used reported crime throughout the city to move police resources around to different neighbourhoods where criminals were particularly active. Sometimes this reallocation of officers, patrol cars and tactical teams came during ongoing shifts.
Results from New York
In Giuliani’s seven years as mayor, overall crime fell more than 50 per cent, robberies were down 67 per cent, car thefts fell 75 per cent and murders were down by nearly two-thirds. According to Chief Driechel, EPS will be using more data to better deploy officers so as to “restore safety in our city and doing it in a more intentional way. We’re deploying resources to those specific areas where reported crime is higher. We’re increasing visible, uniformed presence in communities where people feel unsafe.”
So far this year, for example, EPS officers have responded to 530 calls about Churchill Square and the Churchill LRT station below it. Remember, we are not a full five months into 2026. One good example of what the chief means is seen at Southgate transit centre where arrests are up over last year even as reported crimes are down 27 per cent to date. “Disorder” complaints in the city core were off 13 per cent in March alone. Police are no longer turning a blind eye to open drug use on transit or on Downtown street corners.
The chief called on city residents to be vigilant and again report crimes in their neighbourhoods. This targeted approach, inspired by proven methods, aims to restore safety and order in Edmonton’s public spaces.
