Many of those held up as ‘experts’ on crime are academics living in safe & secure neighbourhoods. Their proposals are all about imposing radical politically-correct social experiments on the population. Meanwhile, the real experts are regular Canadians and the police – and that’s who we should be listening to.
Since taking office, the Liberals have been on a relentless ideological mission to transform how our society deals with crime.
They – along with the Liberal Supreme Court – have struck down many Harper-era justice reforms, thus making it easier for violent criminals to avoid prison or get out of prison sooner.
Further changes – particularly bail reform – also exacerbated that trend.
The result has been predictable:
Crime is going up, innocent Canadians are being put in increasing danger, and criminals increasingly have free reign in our cities.
Yet, the so-called ‘experts’ keep saying that this is how it has to be.
Consider this recent column in the Globe & Mail written by Sandy Simpson, described as “the chair in forensic psychiatry at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) and the University of Toronto.”
Here’s how she ‘explains’ the reason for rising crime:
“The tragic events and rising frequency of violent incidents on Toronto’s transit system is rightly a source of major public concern. We now know that the incidence of these events on the TTC has been slowly rising and at an increasing rate in the last two years. We have no studies of who the people are or why these events are happening, but experts working in this area have identified certain important themes.
The first theme is poverty and homelessness, which have become structural in our city; other cities are also experiencing these problems. Second is intoxication with certain drugs known to cause agitation, fear and violence, especially crystal methamphetamine and crack cocaine. Third is acute mental health disturbance, which can result in fear and agitation. These themes work synergistically to make life very hard. People feel frustration, alienation and distrust that any of the social systems that are meant to help them will help them. With that, too, can come anger.”
And one of the ideas Simpson has for confronting this problem is to give out a Guaranteed Basic Income. Yes, Simpson thinks people should get money for doing nothing so they don’t commit crimes.
This is par for the course from the so-called experts on crime.
They’ll tell you that the only way to reduce crime is to reshape our whole society and give more money to people. The one thing they always ignore however is the idea of locking people up.
Meanwhile, a common-sense is based on some fundamental aspects of reality:
If someone is locked up, they can’t commit more crimes.
If someone is in a mental institution, they can’t put others at risk.
If you keep violent criminals locked up for longer, they have less time on the streets to commit crimes.
None of this precludes more mental health support, but the first step has to be locking criminals up and then looking at how to help people, not the other way around.
Listen to regular Canadians and the police
Many of the elitist academics held up as ‘experts’ on crime live in safe communities and are largely insulated from crime. They say things that are politically correct and which make them feel nice and virtuous at their gatherings, yet it’s the rest of us who have to live with the consequences.
That’s why we need to start dismissing and ignoring the so-called experts on crime, and listen to the real experts – those who have to deal with crime on a daily basis.
Regular Canadians and the police deal with crime, and are demanding a return to reality-based policy.
In fact, just today the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police sent a letter to the Premiers asking for an urgent meeting on bail reform amid a rising threat towards police offers and the public:
“The Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police has requested an urgent meeting with Canada’s premiers to discuss bail reform and the recent killings of officers.
In a letter dated Monday to Manitoba Premier Heather Stefanson, association president Danny Smyth said there has been a link in the rise of violence by people released on bail since federal legislation changes were brought in four years ago.
“Over the last four years, we can track distinct spikes in the numbers of people released on bail and incidences of violent offences committed by those on bail,” said Smyth in the letter.”
Liberal academics and Liberal politicians are putting you and your family at risk with their radical social experiments. Chief Danny Smyth and the millions of regular Canadians demanding tougher policies on crime are right to demand changes. The radical social experiment must end, and common-sense must return.
Spencer Fernando
