Business owners in a notorious Surrey neighborhood are struggling with what to do about the high crime rate.
Just last week, a family physician considered leaving after metal thieves cut power to his building in Whalley.
Turns out, he’s not the only one in the area affected by crime. Many of the local businesses say they’re getting little help from police.
Randy Jarry’s Pick and Pull car parts business is a prime target for thieves. In fact, he says the scrap yard is hit overnight several times a week.
Despite the company’s best efforts to combat the problem with locks, fences and even cameras, the company is running out of options.
“I think what makes me more angry is not that we have been stolen from, it’s the fruitless steps I’ll have to go through afterwards — we are going to file the police reports, call the police in — and nothing is going to happen,” says Jarry.
Ralph’s is not alone, a quick survey of the neighbouring businesses shows they too are facing similar thefts that cost them tens of thousands every year.
Brad Jukes owns an auto shop on Scott Road. He’s owned the property for the past 18 years, and says the problem is getting worse all the time.
“They are so blatant, they will come in the middle of the day to steal articles out of the shops, in the middle of the day,” says Jukes. “When we call 9-1-1 and say our employee is being threatened and assaulted with a weapon, it takes them over an hour to show up.”
The City of Surrey was unavailable to comment, but did say there is an overall crime prevention strategy in the city.
The businesses on Scott Road say the solution to their problems is simple and it starts with the RCMP.
“We have to prioritize the calls, and certainly a call where people are in danger would be prioritized, and property crime are on a reduced priority for obvious reasons,” says Scott Campbell of the Surrey RCMP.
The businesses met with police to try to find some solution to their problems, police couldn’t provide us with any raw crime data, but they did say that in general crime in that part of Surrey is down this year compared to last.
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