By: Teresa Burgess-Ogilvie
Not many of us thought we would be living or dying through a pandemic. If we imagine this unprecedented time as a book with 12 chapters then we are in chapter 2 or 3. Every day, the news of more deaths, lack of resources but also hope as we hear that other countries are starting to slow the progress of the virus. If we are honest, most book endings are fairly predictable. What we don’t know is the journey, the twists and turns.
So how does this Criminal behaviour and Covid-19 book final chapter end as it relates to crime?
There are a number of important links and similarities between public health and safety that allows us to predict the end of this book.
- Job loss will go up and personal income levels will go down.
- As income levels diminish, the ability to pay rent or a mortgage will go down which may result in loss of housing.
- Children and youth have an extended break in education and marginalized students are likely not to return or return with additional stressors that inhibit their learning abilities. Nutrition may diminish without access to school meals.
- Mental illness or a mental health incident caused by an erosion of income, housing, education and nutrition is probable.
- Healthcare access may be diminished as hospitals are dealing with an increase in mental and physical demands as well as individuals not wanting to go to the doctor or hospital from fear of contracting the virus. And of course, the healthcare system is still trying to also manage the ongoing Opioid and overdose crisis.
- Child Abuse and domestic violence may increase as people/family members may be together with the offender for greater periods of time or offends for the first time from a combination of other stressors. These are highly unreported crimes to police.
- Fraudsters and scam artists prey on people by taking advantage of a situation.
- Low risk neighbourhood level crimes like theft from vehicles will likely increase even though more people are at home because it is all about opportunity – are your car doors locked?
How much impact each of these social determinants of criminal behaviour will have on our City depends on the prevention and mitigation – by everyone.
Chapter 4-5, the governments begin distributing the much-discussed economic stimulus packages to help with the loss of income. The Government of Canada will offer $2000 a month for up to four months for Canadians who lose income due to the pandemic through the Canada Emergency Response Benefit. The Ontario government will offer one-time payment to parents of children who are affected by school and daycare closures. This payment will be $200 per child up to the age of 12, or $250 if the child is considered to have special needs. Ontario Works income support program will be expanded amongst other initiatives. The City of Mississauga and Region of Peel along with the Province of Ontario have agreed to defer property tax payments for 90 days to help with the financial difficulties businesses are facing as a result of the COVID19 pandemic, reduced bus fares amongst other local initiatives, and business owners are being offered additional lines of credit and grants. These are all mitigation efforts against the loss of income.
Landlords are offering to work with tenants and banks are offering temporary mortgage relief. These are mitigation efforts against loss of housing. Businesses that rent their premises are encouraged to speak with their landlord/ property manager about payment deferral and landlords are encouraged to work with their tenants regarding rent payments including the utility and property tax deferral program. Not all landlords or banks are so empathetic. The number of evictions and foreclosures will be an indicator of whether it is tens, hundreds or thousands of people being displaced. We are deep into Chapter 7, now.
Schools are ramping up to provide classes, online. How many students don’t return? Mental health agencies – well, they were already overburdened and so I’m not sure what else they can add to their arsenal for mitigation. Everyone has access to healthcare but healthcare may not have room or enough equipment for them. Hospitals in other countries are providing updates on requested resources to ensure they can meet the expected patient demand.
And even if you’re able to overcome all the bad that a pandemic brings to the social determinants of criminal behaviour, the story isn’t over. Along the journey, we are always faced with the fraudsters and scam artists. Crime prevention initiatives taken by the police, government and agencies mitigate the likelihood of someone falling prey to these scams.
On a purely positive note, along the journey, we are finding out that with less pollution being produced it is having a positive effect on the physical environment. That good news is in Chapter 11.
As a community resiliency champion, I like to make people aware of the situation, the probable outcomes, ways to prevent or mitigate and then finally, recover. All of this depends on your current position within the determinants, willingness to do the mitigation and plan smartly on recovery outcomes.
Covid-19 is likely to show a delayed but possibly significant increase in criminal behaviours depending on how long it lasts. Highly dependent on a vaccine, the longer the pandemic lasts the more businesses that will close and never reopen and the higher the probability that crime will begin to increase. In Chapter 12, the virus is being tracked and people can move about because testing is available but not yet a cure (that will be in the next book). In my version, the damage caused by the eroding social determinants of criminal behaviour are stopped or mitigated by crime prevention initiatives in the form of economic stimulus packages, empathetic landlords and bankers, on-line schools and tutoring assistance, tips to assist business owners, seniors, neighbourhoods and volunteers all over the City.
What you do to help people now will increase the likelihood of bouncing back faster and more safely later. The way we do it is to support crime prevention initiatives. And if you don’t know what you can do – then donate to Safe City Mississauga. All non-profits are going to take a big hit on fundraising this year so go online and make a small (or big) donation. If you’re a business that isn’t affected or has great margins – feel free to sponsor our online #FutureGrad campaign (supporting youth to graduate) or the #WhiteRibbon campaign (end domestic violence). To learn more about Safe City Mississauga visit the website at www.safecitymississauga.on.ca.