Williams Lake city council has passed a number of resolutions to tackle crime.
At its Dec. 4 regular meeting, council brought forward a number of items passed during an in-camera session to address crime and safety in the city.
“A number of items came out of a meeting of council with RCMP Inspector Warren Brown last week where we were discussing how to support the RCMP to make our city a safer community, ” Mayor Kerry Cook said.
The items include helping develop a harm-reduction strategy for weapons of choice used in crimes, such as machetes and bear spray.
Council also directed staff to limit vehicle access to the vacant area known as the “Dairy Fields,” located between Glendale elementary school and Seniors Village.
The city’s community policing will be encouraged to reinstate the Court Watch program.
“This is part of the community policing that was active in the past,” said Councillor Surinderpal Rathor.
“There are a number of things that we’re trying to do as a council to improve the current situation and one of the things is having active court watch volunteers in the courts,” Cook said. “The volunteers would be recognizable, would report out, and media would be there. It would be a way of having another set of eyes there for accountability for what’s going on. It’s a piece of community policing we recognize as valuable and we wanted to encourage volunteers in the community to bring this back.”
Council will also request meetings with provincial and Crown counsels to discuss concerns with the prolific offender program, as well as with provincial Minister of Justice Shirley Bond and federal Minister of Justice, Rob Nicholson.
“We’re trying a multi-pronged approach,” Cook added.
