The prolonged 90 day State of Emergency for certain areas of the Southside has been dominating public discourse recently.
And the commissioner likes the SOE just fine - he believes it has been reducing crime.
So, would he support an Indefinite SOE? Today we asked the compol whether he is in support of this and here's what he had to say.
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"I am not advocating for indefinite SOE, as we have said on numerous occasions, that the SOE must always be used sparingly and as an act of last resort. It is not something we do proudly, but at the end of the day, when we see that these young men are going at each other, extincting each other, and the law enforcement effort is not yielding the results that we want because of the fact that they take every opportunity they get to go at each other, then the only measure that we can take to put a pass on their action and to see how we can get them in a setting to have intervention sessions and different programs with them is through the SOE. And so, as much as it is not something we do proudly, we do believe that it helps in preserving lives and at the end of the day, I am sure that many parents of these young men would be happy come the end of the year when they can still say they have their son with them."
"Had it not been for this SOE, many of them would not be able to say that. So as much as some may see it as an undesirable tool that the police uses, it is a useful one and the law -abiding people for the most part do support it and even the parents or loved ones of some of these same troubled youths do support it because it is the only way that they can get the help that they need."
