Two city councillors in favour of exploring home security measures

File photo of a Ring doorbell camera is seen installed outside a home in Wolcott, Conn., on July 16, 2019.

Two local city councillors are on board with continuing discussions on possible home security measures for elected officials.

A proposal to explore home security measures for Windsor’s mayor and city councillors is still in its early stages.

Council discussed the matter on Monday during an in-camera meeting, where they directed administration to bring forward more information on what it would look like to implement these measures.

No decisions have been made on whether funding will ultimately be approved or what security measures, if any, would look like. There is the potential for it to be considered as part of the 2027 budget process.

This discussion comes after several councillors raised concerns about safety at home during the current term.

Ward 9 councillor Kieran McKenzie says while he hasn’t personally felt the need for additional security, he knows other members of council have.

“I think it’s an important conversation to have. I think it’s an important conversation for us to have with the community as well. We went in-camera just so we could have a frank discussion about what some folks were experiencing in their role as an elected official. I’m supportive of this going forward. I think there’s a need. I want to proceed with reasonable measures.”

He says the proposal is about responding to legitimate concerns some elected officials are facing.

“Things like anonymous messages that are menacing are happening and maybe sometimes not so anonymous. Things are implied through different ways that people choose to communicate, whether that be through social media platforms, direct messaging, emails and whatnot.”

McKenzie says there’s a certain amount of privacy that public officials don’t have the luxury of having.

“For example, even just to run for a councillor or the mayoral position, you have to publicly publish your home address. So people know that. People know where you live. And I don’t know if other folks would feel comfortable if their address, home address, is publicly disclosed on a website that was available and open to the public.”

Meanwhile, ward 10 Councillor Jim Morrison says he’s had people show up at his home, although he has never felt physically threatened.

“There has definitely been people that have come to my door and there’s been people that have stopped in front of my house, they’re clearly scoping out my house for whatever reason. For my wife, she’s the one that has the most concerns. The job shouldn’t mean that your spouse has to be concerned about things happening at their private house.”

He says council isn’t committing to any specific security program at this point.

“Basically, I think administration - and we do have somebody that’s the head of security here at City Hall - will take a better look at this. Whether we need to budget something for next year will be decided. So it’s really just - let’s take a good hard look at this because I think the job should not mean that you have to worry about your safety in any way.”

Morrison says council has made changes at City Hall to improve safety this past term.

“We’ve actually implemented having police at our meetings. And so there are police that are armed right here at City Hall in case anything goes crazy. So, we’ve done some things for City Hall for security, you can’t just go up the elevator to any floor and things like that. So we’ve done some security things there, but maybe now is the time to look at our personal residences.”

Any recommendations would come back to council for further discussion, and any funding would still have to be debated and approved as part of Windsor’s 2027 budget process.

At this stage, council has only agreed to have administration study the issue and report back with possible options.

-with files from AM800’s The Kyle Horner Show with guest host Chris Byrne, and files from AM800’s The Shift with guest host Kyle Horner