I was reading this article and I think its a great Idea.
Terrace business community welcomes a boots on the ground approach to downtown law enforcement
Terrace’s downtown business community, weary of the high number of drunk and disorderly people causing trouble in their part of town are hopeful that a new program may make the downtown core a more welcoming place and rid it of the troublesome elements that have chased away business.
The Terrace RCMP has instituted a two man foot patrol unit in the downtown area, added visibility to the troubled areas of town and one which local business owners and citizens hope will reduce the amount of crime and improper behaviour in that part of the city.
The RCMP are also hoping to have Terrace City council approve a new parks and public places bylaw, an additional way to remove troublemakers by assessing a 200 dollar fine for each offence such as defecating or urinating in public, participating in a fight or consuming or possessing alcohol or a controlled substance.
The foot patrol project was created after Terrace Business leaders went to the city last year with a number of complaints and a demand for attention to the deteriorating conditions in the downtown area.
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It will be a project and possible solution that Prince Rupert’s Business community will be watching closely, to see if some of the Terrace solutions may work on Rupert’s downtown troubles.
Their new project was on the news the other night and seems like a great idea…I hate to say it fella Rupertites, but it seems like Terrace is more on the ball with what they propose for their community and the living and working conditions than we would ever be. I went to a meeting held at the college about 2 months ago with about 15 people from town and YES, it was a publicized meeting with the RCMP and though they had all the stats. regarding B&E’s, vandalism, public drunkeness and what they proposed we could do as a community, nothing has been uttered about it since and sadly, isn’t that normal for this town. Due to the fact there are so many closed and secretive meetings without subsequent results or even follow-ups, I think we have become a “believe it when we see it” community. For once, instead of condemning Terrace, we should sit up and take note of the on hands approach they seem to be willing to share with their “peeps”…
Both the foot patrol and bike patrol ideas have been done here as well in the past, Also with the Auxiliary program, and the Citizens on Patrol, they never seem to last long enough to become effective. I think the novelty wears off pretty quickly after about the third really rainy night in a row. LOL
There was also the youth intervention team, which had two great constables (forget their names), male and female, who walked about and connected with youth. They were very popular. I recall one of the constables saying that kids who used to yell and swear at them were now running up to say hi and talking about how their lives were going.
Guess they cut it because it was working too well???
