N.K. residents fed up feeling trapped in their own homes

Committee urges people to band tdogether to fight crime, vandalism

When Suzanne Swaffer steps out of her North Kildonan apartment with her nine-year-old daughter, she wants to stop feeling the need to look both ways.

On the way to their car across the parking lot, she doesn’t want drug paraphernalia, puddles of urine or condoms to be obstacles in their path.

She also doesn’t want to discover that someone has again smashed her car windows or siphoned its gas.

A single parent living in a Manitoba Housing apartment near Donwood School, Swaffer wishes her daughter didn’t have to grow up in the same type of environment she did.

Heather MacDuff, another single parent living in a Manitoba Housing complex in the same area, doesn’t want to feel terrified to leave her doors unlocked .

Jerry Sodomlak, principal at Donwood school, doesn’t want another young student telling him the reason he’s late for class is because he was setting “booby traps” in a nearby park to scare away drug dealers.

That’s why MacDuff, Swaffer and Sodomlak are active on a committee formed to find positive solutions to neighbourhood safety issues.

They are hoping other members of the community will join them by attending a forum called Path to Building a Safer Community, on Wednesday, April 30, at 6:30 p.m. at John Pritchard School.

“It’s one of the best things that can happen to the community because police cannot do it alone,” said Insp. Brian Cyncora of the Winnipeg Police Service.

The committee formed a few years ago to find the “pulse of the community,” said Sodomlak. Participating schools and agencies include Donwood Elementary School, John Pritchard School, Princess Margaret School, Manitoba Housing, Neighbourhood Alive and the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority.

The committee strives to hear public concerns that can be passed on to the agencies able to address them. Issues raised include lack of child supervision, increased drug and alcohol use and crime.

Last fall, Sodomlak said a seven-year-old boy told him he was setting “booby traps” in Paufeld Park because he had found drug paraphernalia.

“He took two little sticks and propped them up in the ground and put yellow tape in between them, thinking (the drug users) would trip on it and that would keep them away,” said Sodomlak.

“I’ve heard from a few parents that their children are afraid to go out and play or walk to school,” he said.

Swaffer said she doesn’t let her daughter play outside by herself.

The committee’s proposed solutions include more police presence and forming a citizens’ patrol group.

“There used to be a beat officer in that area,” said Cyncora.

“We’re now revisiting the whole issue.”

“I’m hoping for change. The biggest issue is safety,” said Swaffer.

“My kids have seen way more violence than I ever did,” said MacDuff.