WATCH: Surrey residents are raising concerns over a spike of violent crime in Surrey. Doug Elford with the Newton Community Association talks to BC1‘s Sonia Sunger about what they want to be done.
Surrey residents are calling for greater action from city hall in the wake of at least a dozen shootings in recent weeks.
Some argue mayor Linda Hepner should be taking a stronger stand on the issue of crime.
Doug Elford with the Newton Community Association says they want to hear some sort of statement from the mayor.
“Maybe some leadership showing us that she is working with the RCMP and committing resources,” he says.
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In December, Hepner spoke to the media after calls for her to address crime in the city continued to grow.
Saying that she could only speak to what she’s been able to do since taking over the reins of mayor three weeks ago, Hepner indicated there’s “a lot of work that’s gone on.”
At the time, Hepner said her first job as mayor was to introduce a budget to ensure funding for 100 police officers on the ground. Her overall commitment is 147 and Hepner said, “we’re well on our way to seeing that happen.”
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A new crime-fighting centre was also unveiled in February.
But Elford says people in the community are still fearful for their lives in light of recent shootings and concerned innocent bystanders might get hurt.
“These are brazen acts happening in the middle of the day,” he adds. “There does not seem to be an end to this. The RCMP does not seem to have a handle on this and it is continuing on. We had two more last night. It’s like another day, another shooting.”
Elford says the community also needs to take ownership of the situation and help the RCMP in their investigations.
With files from Paula Baker
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