Police will be pounding the pavement in downtown Trail more often over the next few months after Trail council okayed a plan for beefed up foot patrols.
Read more: Concerned Trail residents meet with RCMP
The municipality made the announcement this week following a meeting between Trail city council and Sgt. Mike Wicentowich from the Trail RCMP wherein concerns were voiced about public safety throughout the community, including the downtown core and neighbourhoods.
At the meeting a number of options were discussed to determine if enforcement could be enhanced for the remainder of the summer.
Trail council, in consultation with the RCMP, has decided to activate semi-weekly downtown and public spaces foot patrols until the end of September 2020.
The added patrols will be funded from the municipal Policing Services Budget.
Police will report back to council as part of keeping statistics in order to monitor the impacts of this enhancement.
“The city takes our citizens’ concerns and safety very seriously,” Mayor Lisa Pasin said in an Aug. 13 release news release.
“These are very challenging times and we are very aware of the unwanted activity in our city. Although increased foot patrols won’t solve all the issues we are currently facing, it is a proactive step in the right direction,” she said.
“We appreciate the RCMP’s willingness to step up and offer this service, and we are hopeful that the increased police presence will help quell some of the problems we are experiencing.”
The foot patrols will occur twice a week in the evenings – one weekday and one day on the weekend when operationally feasible – and will consist of two RCMP members working together as a team.
These additional foot patrols will supplement the RCMP’s regular vehicle and foot patrol shifts already being conducted and will rely on the officers working overtime.
In addition to evening foot patrols, the city says it is also seeking a cost proposal for daytime patrols from the local private security company that already provides evening patrol service for the municipality.
Pasin says council will review and consider the proposal at the upcoming council meeting on Monday, August 17.
“Once the new patrols are underway, the city and RCMP will review and monitor the program,” she said.
“At the end of September we will make a decision on how to continue. In the meantime, we encourage the public to remain observant and to report criminal activity to the RCMP. We also extend a huge thank you to our citizens for their expressions of concern.”
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