The Town of Oliver will spend $3,200 to boost patrols in the community in order to fight crime.
The Town of Oliver has found a “little pocket of money” to show thieves in the community that the streets have eyes.
Last week council approved the allocation of $3,200 for late evening and early morning security patrols. It will also consider supporting additional resources for bylaw enforcement and security next year.
The resolution comes in the wake of concerns expressed by local businesses that have called on the Town to do something about the many acts of thievery in the community.
Recently, more than 30 businesses in the industrial park signed a petition requesting council to take action on crime.
Dennis Munckhof from Munckhof Manufacturing stated the case about local businesses spending thousands of dollars in security measures but seeing very little done about crime in the neighbourhood.
But after hearing council’s resolution to spend money on patrols, he was pleasantly surprised.
“It sounds like they took the issue to heart,” he said, noting it’s nice to see some immediate and direct action from the Town.
Hovanes said the plan is to work with people who offer security and pay them to conduct random patrols.
The mayor said the idea is to have an increased security presence in the community.
“It’s not so much catching people, but having a presence . . . we’re not police officers, and we don’t run the police station. We just want to boost security levels.”
Hovanes said they will brainstorm to determine where the hot spots are in town and patrol those areas. He noted they won’t be targeting a specific business or neighbourhood, and the patrols won’t be conducted every night or every morning.
The mayor delivered some more welcome news by saying the RCMP have made a “business case” to acquire two more officers for the Oliver RCMP detachment.
Hovanes said he met with RCMP Superintendent Kevin Hewco and they talked about crime in Oliver, including one local prolific offender (Brooks Vandenbroek) who is now facing a number of break-in charges in Alberta.
According to Hovanes, Hewco’s superiors support the business case for more officers in Oliver.
Munckhof said there is no magic bullet that will fix the crime malady in Oliver, noting that more officers will not solve the problem. But this action will “send a message to these criminals” that the community is not being complacent.
Hovanes said a town hall meeting will be scheduled near the end of January to talk about the crime issue. The meeting will give residents a chance to voice their concerns, but it will also educate them on how not to be a victim.
“If you do not lock your doors, the ‘low-lifes’ will take advantage,” the mayor said. “We need to make ourselves a little less crime friendly.”
Hovanes said people have to continue reporting crime, no matter how small it is. “We need to hear about it all.”
The problem is, the mayor admitted, that police do a lot of leg work to get these criminals in front of the judge, only to see them released to break the law again.
It was suggested that Oliver residents need to see and hear from the RCMP more often.
Water councillor Rick Machial previously suggested that the RCMP change their shifts to include night patrols. But Hovanes said he was told by the RCMP that those shift changes are not easy to incorporate into their schedules.
Sergeant Blaine Gervais of the Oliver RCMP told the Chronicle that the two additional members have been identified as required to address the impact on calls for service as a result of the new correctional centre and the increase in property crime prevalent in the area.
Gervais said the new correctional centre will require Oliver members to take statements, serve documents, and take DNA for other detachments. There will also be investigations completed for offences inside the facility.
“The correctional centre is bringing a large population increase to the community and will directly relate into more calls for service.”
Gervais said having two additional members should provide some relief, allowing members time to patrol the community more often for longer periods of time. He confirmed that officers do conduct night patrols in Oliver.
By Lyonel Doherty
