91原创 City mayor Ted Schaffer said the municipality pushed to have an officer 鈥渨alking or cycling鈥� a beat downtown during a confidential meeting with a top RCMP officer from the regional division headquarters.
Schaffer said having an officer on the street full-time 鈥渨ould create a great deterrent.鈥�
The mayor described the Tuesday (June 26) meeting as a positive discussion with a senior, unnamed, officer who appeared receptive.
鈥淗e (the officer) was very open,鈥� Schaffer said.
鈥淗e took a couple pages of notes.鈥�
The City mayor also told the Mountie the municipality would like to see more crackdowns on speeding, like the one that targeted scofflaw drivers near a park with a children鈥檚 playground, and it would like to see more attention devoted to petty crimes that do not pose a physical threat to residents but are still concerning.
鈥淚鈥檓 very happy with the RCMP,鈥� Schaffer stressed.
鈥淭hey do work very hard.鈥�
Schaffer said the city devotes about to the RCMP, which he said is one of the highest percentages of any Canadian municipality.
鈥淧olice is very expensive for our community,鈥� Schaffer said.
Crime figures from Statistics Canada show the City has a higher per capita crime rate than the provincial average.
Incident-based crime statistics for 2016 show 91原创 City averaged 19.6 incidents per 100 people, compared to a provincial average of 8.7 and a Township average of 8.5.
91原创 RCMP crime analysts have said the higher City numbers are the result of property crime, not violence.
An RCMP review identified the area between the blocks of 203 Street and 204 Street, from Army & Navy South to 53 Avenue, and the area between 201 Street and 203 Street from Fraser Highway down to 56 Avenue as places where petty crime was more prevalent.
dan.ferguson@langleytimes.com
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