Public Safety Committee Meets For First Time

The chair of Saint John’s public safety committee wants to see improved relationships with the city’s police and fire departments.

The committee, which was approved by the previous council in March, met for the first time on Wednesday.

During his opening remarks, Coun. David Hickey said he hopes the committee takes time to work on renewed relationships with protective services.

“Our relationship with police and fire has been fractured over the past few years and, as chair of this committee, I certainly recognize our ability to separate our financial commitments to our protective service from our commitment to respect our frontline protective services,” said Hickey.

Members of the previous council and the unions representing city police officers and firefighters often butted heads over wages.

Former mayor Don Darling frequently brought up the “unsustainable costs” of the city’s public service while the unions said they were constantly being attacked by the mayor.

Darling later resigned his seat on the city’s police commission, saying he no longer wanted to have his comments “filtered or withheld” because of board governance rules.

“This decision allows me the freedom to share observations, opinions and, most importantly, solutions to achieve necessary reforms to policing,” he said at the time.

In a series of tweets on Thursday, Darling said he hopes the public safety committee will “enhance transparency, speak openly about the barriers that exist, and dig into the data.”

Hickey, meanwhile, said he hopes the committee will set a foundation for dialogue, policy, and action on all issues of public safety.

The committee’s scope will stretch from fire and police to road safety and active transportation.

“With this kind of level of depth in our agenda, I hope that we are truly focused and rooted in assessment of value for Saint Johners and value for taxpayers,” he said.

The idea of a public safety committee was first brought forward two years ago by Coun. Greg Norton.

Saint John now has three committees: public safety; finance; and growth.