WATCH (above): Concerns in a surrey neighbourhood where commissionaires hired to make the streets safer could be pulled off duty. Catherine Urquhart reports.
Residents of a Surrey neighbourhood are raising concerns after learning commissionaires brought on board after the violent murder of Julie Paskall, could be pulled off duty.
BC Commissionaires, which signed a contract with the city last April to provide 10 uniformed personnel and conduct safety patrols, have been considered a welcome addition in Surrey — especially in the crime-ridden neighbourhood of Newton.
Initially the commissionaires were part of the RCMP’s Community Safety Patrol project, which came on the heels of the rise in violence in Surrey last year.
But now, the RCMP is saying the program should be cancelled because it’s too expensive and ineffective.
“I’m assuming it’s budgetary, it’s a half million dollars, it’s quite a bit of money and maybe they’re going to invest it in the officers we’re supposed to be getting in the springtime,” said Doug Elford from the Newton Community Association.
“I’m not quite sure, it’s hard to speculate but I’m assuming it’s all about money.”
Safety in the community became a major issue following the murder of Julie Paskall, a hockey mom attacked outside the Newton Community Centre.
Residents and neighbours in the area said the commissionaires made them feel safer.
As Elford mentioned, the City of Surrey is hiring more police officers with 20 arriving within the next six weeks and 80 more will follow. But regardless of the influx of officers, many people are still saying they think it’s too soon to end the commissionaire program.
“There is a sense that it is a little safer when they’re around and in the neighbourhood,” Elford told Global News.
“We see them around, they’re very visible, we see them quite frequently in the neighbourhood and they engage us. And that’s something we’ve demanded for a long time, is the personal level of policing.”
Surrey Council has referred the issue to staff with no final decision on when the commissionaire program could end.
~ with files from Catherine Urquhart
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