Pedestrian safety, property crime and mental health are three areas the Richmond RCMP is recommending as top priorities for its community policing strategy for 2016.
Depending on what Richmond city council decides to do with information it gleans from public consultation on a police services review, such a recommendation may be the Mounties’ penultimate one.
Council’s safety committee accepted the recommendations, which will proceed to a full council meeting in 10 days.
Supt. Renny Nesset noted, just because there are only three listed priorities, doesn’t mean other issues are not important.
However, with an average of three pedestrian deaths per year over the last five years, a spike in aggressive residential break-and-enters and more than 1,100 mental health related calls for service annually, Nesset said Mounties must particularly focus on such issues.
Nesset noted in his report that an education blitz by the Road Safety Unit led to a reduction in pedestrian injuries in 2015, compared to 2014.
Meanwhile, Block Watch volunteer and former Vancouver Police Department officer Ken Frail told the committee the Block Watch program still requires a significant overhaul.
He said focusing on engaging new Chinese immigrants is important.
“We need to focus on community connections because we’re losing those connections,” said Frail.
Coun. Linda McPhail noted an RCMP review of the program is forthcoming in April.
Frail said he questioned the fact that there are 500-700 Block Watch captains active in the city. Frail wants the city and the RCMP to communicate more effectively and make Block Watch a program that could help in the event of a major emergency.
McPhail told Nesset she was concerned about speeding in the city.
“I’m driving 65 km/h and can’t keep up with the other drivers,” said McPhail.
Richmond, like most cities in Canada, is showing a long-term decline in crime rates.
2014 Crime severity index snapshot (Stats Canada)
Surrey 134; Victoria 115; Vancouver 106; B.C. 92; Richmond 90; Burnaby 86; Delta 57; Toronto 56
