Private security for ByWard Market part of mayor’s public safety plan
Mayor Mark Sutcliffe announced increased investments in public safety that includes $1 million to enhance security in the ByWard Market with private security guards to “fill the gaps” and augment the police presence in the heritage district.
The announcement came as part of the mayor’s public safety action plan that was unveiled Thursday as Sutcliffe was joined by Ottawa Police Chief Eric Stubbs, Ottawa Paramedic Chief Pierre Poirier and Ottawa Fire Services Chief Paul Hutt at City Hall.
Many of the investments had previously been announced as part of the city’s $5.2 billion budget last month, including the hiring of 21 new sworn police officers and four special constables, 23 new paramedics and a $3.6 million investment in new self-contained breathing apparatus for firefighters.
The public safety action plan follows similar campaign-style events at the mayor’s office, with the housing action plan, youth homelessness strategy and primary care action plan unveiled in recent months.
Sutcliffe announced a $1-million investment on Thursday for a two-year pilot project in the ByWard Market that will see private security guards “fill some of the gaps in service hours and at key locations in the Market.”
The announcement comes after multiple requests from the tourism industry and the small business community in the ByWard Market, which has seen an increase in open-air drug use and rising low-level crime.
The historic neighbourhood is well-known as a prime tourist destination with further investments planned for the 200th anniversary of the founding of Bytown next year and similar celebrations for the ByWard Market’s 200th anniversary in 2027.
Sutcliffe said a number of hotels, nightclubs and other businesses in the area already employ private security, and the city’s investment in private security will be “supplementary” and “complementary” to existing police patrols.
Stubbs said the multi-agency Neighbourhood Operations Centre in the Rideau Centre at 50 Rideau Street has made a positive impact on policing the district since opening in June 2024.
The Ottawa Police Service also operates its Market Safe program with dedicated officers posted to the area, and there are plans to expand the OPS mounted unit into the ByWard Market.
Stubbs said 14 more police officers will be assigned to the neighbourhood resource team on Dec. 15 with a focus on “proactive work in the downtown core, more presence, more problem solving, and quicker support for residents and businesses” in neighbourhoods like Centretown, Lowertown and the Market.
“These new resources will make a difference on the ground,” Stubbs said.
“Ottawa continues to grow with more residents, more demands, more density and pressure on the Ottawa Police Service. We see that managing our vulnerable population in regards to social disorder in the downtown core, from the increase in auto thefts, cyber crime, fraud, intimate partner violence, shoplifting and, of course, mental health calls,” he said.
The investment in public safety “recognizes the need to support our first responders, and it recognizes the fact that we need to hire more of them,” Sutcliffe said, “but it also makes room for new approaches to support the community.”
Sutcliffe touted the success of the Alternative Neighbourhood Crisis Response Program (ANCHOR), which handled 4,464 calls in its first year of operations since launching in August 2024. About 93 per cent of those calls were placed directly to the program’s 2-1-1 crisis line and were handled without police intervention.
Sutcliffe said the ANCHOR program “relieves the burden placed on police, firefighters and paramedics to respond to non-emergency situations, and it delivers a more acute mental health and outreach service on the ground.”
The program has received “overwhelmingly positive” reviews from community partners and is set to expand beyond the current boundaries in Centretown with a further $700,000 investment in the city’s 2026 budget.
The new hires add to the 49 sworn officers and 10 special constables who have joined the OPS during this term of council.
The city is also investing $187.7 million for a new OPS facility in Barrhaven. Stubbs said there are unique needs across the city’s urban, suburban and rural neighbourhoods and police are continuing to roll out a district policing model.
“Most areas want to see an increase in traffic enforcement in regards to speeding, stunting and impaired driving,” Stubbs said.
The district model will “modernize” the police force with “tailored responses” with increased police presence and visibility, faster response times and “targeted action where residents are feeling the most pressure,” Stubbs said.
It assigns officers to specific neighbourhoods based on local needs,” he said, with a phased approach that began in May 2024 and full front-line deployment by January 2027.
The city is hiring 23 new paramedics, and will have added 141 paramedic staff since 2023.
The additional staff have contributed to reducing Level Zero events — where there are no available ambulances in the city — by 79 per cent last year and have reduced “off-load delays” with transporting patients to the hospital.
Off-load delays have “almost disappeared,” Poirier said.
“We’ve been able to work with the hospitals and create a significant reduction in the time that we spend at the hospital, which has a really a significant positive effect on our community, where the paramedic crew is available to respond to that next call for service.”
The new equipment for firefighters is part of an $8 million investment that will also strengthen operational capacity in fast-growing neighbourhoods across the city, Hutt said.
There will be 12 additional firefighters assigned to Kanata North, and another 22 in Stittsville, and the fire service is looking at a long-term location study that will see more firefighters in outlying areas like Manotick and Greely.
“We see growth and intensification all across our city, which is wonderful, but with that, we also have to be prepared as well,” Hutt said.
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