Fear of Crime Doesn't Pay

Safety on the TTC, and in our city, is best addressed by cool heads, not hot ones

Photo by Melanie Wasser on Unsplash

Though we may not want to admit it, most of us are captivated by bad news stories. The old saying “if it bleeds it leads” is what leads our news and social media algorithms to put murder and mayhem in the headlines, at the top of the news hour and front and centre on Twitter. We are evolutionarily attracted to bad news, and our storytellers are happy to indulge that attraction, as bad for our mental health it may be.

Which crisis we need to fear changes month to month, week to week, or sometimes day to day. One of the stories running this election seems to be about crime on the TTC. And often this crime is portrayed as a threat that requires some kind of heroic batman of a mayor to swoop in and solve. Figures about the percentage increase in crime from the year before or the increasing number of violent incidents are highlighted as if the sky is falling. But when you consider that there are hundreds of millions of rides taken every year, those figures actually indicate that the chance of a serious violent incident on a trip on the TTC is between 0.000001 and 0.000002. That’s about one hundred times less than the risk of being struck and killed by lightning on your way to the bus.

I’ve learned however that it doesn’t work to combat fear with statistics. People’s fear is legitimate, and there is no question that deaths, especially seemingly random ones, on the TTC or anywhere else, leave a wake of sadness and anger. And minor incidents that instill fear, like being muttered at, yelled at, touched, or even just witnessing people suffering on their own, are more common than we would all like.

So the question of what we do about crime needs to be split into two parts, the fear of crime, and actual crime.

First, let’s talk about fear. Fear serves us when we are under immediate threat ourselves - like being attacked by a lion - because it points to the direction we need to take. Our options in cases where we are directly under threat are to run, hide or stay still, and a fight or flight response is appropriate in such a case. But fear of the abstract, or something that “could” happen at some point in the future, is not helpful. It doesn’t lead to concrete solutions and is more likely to result in reactionary policies that aren’t thoughtfully considered or whose long term impacts aren’t properly assessed.

To move through fear in a healthy way on our way to solutions we need to first honour it and allow its expression. So we must listen to people who have had or worry about bad experiences on the TTC, and recognize that their fear is valid, wherever it comes from. Then we need to remind ourselves to listen to and to notice, the good news stories. It’s easy to notice the bad because it stands out. But in a city of 3 million people, if we noticed - and if the media broadcast - every smile between strangers, every person who gave up their seat, held the door, or who helped someone who stumbled - we’d have a completely different picture of the TTC, and of our city at large.

So with fear out of the way, we can return to the question about how to deal with crime. And the first answer is, there isn’t an answer. What we do about actual crime isn’t easy, because crime is simply a reflection of the health of our society. Everything from boredom to poverty, addiction to mental health, overcrowding to frustration over real or perceived unfairness, can result in criminal actions that harm people or destroy property. So, if we want fewer criminal actions, we need fewer causes in all these areas.

Too often our response to crime comes from the desire to treat the symptoms of those root problems. That’s where ideas like increasing security budgets, upping weaponry for officers, increasing security theatre like barricades and checkpoints, putting cameras everywhere to create a surveillance state, or installing incredibly expensive infrastructure (like three billion dollar platform door systems) come from. But since these ideas don’t address the underlying issues, they are unlikely to yield a safer society, and will often have unintended consequences.

Addressing underlying causes - creating a society that is simply better and happier for its members - is something no mayor or government can do on its own. It is something all of us must do together.

As mayor, I’d love to be part of a government that supports community programming, that creates beautiful and stimulating public spaces for people of all ages, that removes barriers to civic participation and economic opportunity. When it comes to the TTC specifically, taking measures to dramatically improve service (I’ve written about that here) will remove sources of frustration and overcrowding even as it encourages more riders. That means more people looking out for each other (safety in numbers!). Eliminating mandatory fares (which I’ve written about here) will allow us to redeploy service personnel from conflict ridden scenarios (asking people for fares or proof of payment) to service improving ones (giving people directions or assistance), increasing the amount of time TTC staff can use to tend to the transit environment.

Asking about candidates’ attitudes towards crime might be helpful. But our city will be better if rather than expecting anyone else to solve crime we work to make our city better ourselves too. As residents, we can create safer communities through simple actions - smiles, talking to people on the street, getting to know our neighbours, and supporting local business and artistic endeavours. Property owners can make a difference by tending to their properties and the space around them, and businesses can help by ensuring they work cooperatively with the communities they are in. All of these actions matter if we want a safer society. Crime is an abstract label that refers to specific acts, taken by individuals who do it in different scenarios and for many different reasons relating to their environments and how they function in them. We all play a role in what the communities we live in are like, and the strength of the relationships we foster, which means we can all be part of the solution.