The Newton Business Improvement Association (BIA) in Surrey is calling for more RCMP boots on the ground to tackle gang violence and petty crime.
In particular, the group wants to see the Surrey RCMP’s Community Response Unit (CRU) doubled in size, from nine members to 18.
“When we talk about a community policing model the CRU is the closest thing that we have in the RCMP that can achieve those goals,” said Newton BIA executive director Philip Aguirre.
The CRU, which was created in 2015, works out of five offices around the city.
The RCMP says officers assigned to the unit “have strong backgrounds in community policing and an understanding of the diverse needs and challenges of each community.”
It says the unit focuses on problem residences where drug dealing and property crime happen, and areas frequented by prolific offenders.
Feb. 2016: Surrey RCMP hold public safety meeting in Newton
“They are the units that do all the proactive policing in the area. I believe that people want to feel safer in Newton and we are seeing incremental improvements but we need to take a larger shift,” said Aguirre.
Surrey’s Newton neighbourhood has a population greater than Kelowna, said Aguirre, and as such should be given greater priority by both the city and the province.
On a more positive note, he noted that total crime in Newton has dropped by 20 per cent in the second quarter of 2017.
In response, Surrey’s director of public safety Terry Waterhouse said “resources will be adjusted” if Newton residents don’t feel safe.
“Through our public safety strategy we tailor our approaches in each of the town centres with our partners, police and others to make sure we understand those issues in the various parts of the city and respond to those.”
Waterhouse says Community Patrol Officers and commissionaires are also out in force in Newton helping to keep the community safe.