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Skof believes violent crimes have increased because of the new street-check rules limiting police work.

“I can assure you from my membership’s perspective, those street check regulations have been very difficult to navigate and they have prevented us from having relationships or communications with the community,” he said.

According to a January 2018 report by the Conference Board of Canada on violent crime in Ottawa, there was an increase in the number of violent and weapons-related crimes reported between 2015 and 2016. The city’s violent crime rate in 2016, however, was still significantly lower than the national average, the study said. There have been no statistics released publicly yet about violent crime rates in 2017.

Skof said it’s not personal when it comes to the incumbent Liberal government. Ottawa has produced ministers of community safety, including the current minister Marie-France Lalonde and former minister Yasir Naqvi, who’s now the attorney general. Skof has worked with both ministers in his role as union president.

The police association’s relationship with the Liberals has become difficult because of Bill 175 and the street-check regulations, Skof said.

He said the members of the union only see an “attack on policing” from the NDP, whose platform calls for a ban on street checks. The NDP platform also says it would stop laws that would allow privatizing of policing.

An NDP pledge to “promote police training on systemic racism” irked Skof.

“We’re not engaging in profiling. We don’t engage in racist behaviour. To even suggest there’s something lacking in our training is ridiculous,” he said.

The PC platform says the party would “fix” Bill 175, but the pledge stops there.

According to Skof, fixing the legislation should mean having discussions with police associations.

“It’s something we, unfortunately, did not end up having with the Liberal party,” Skof said.

jwilling@postmedia.com

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