Two decades ago, when the Chemainus RCMP detachment was absorbed into the neighbouring North Cowichan detachment, promises were made. Those promises were broken.

A former Chemainus RCMP detachment officer has started a petition calling on North Cowichan and the RCMP to honour that 1998 deal to provide 24-hour policing with two officers in the former detachment area.

Terry van Seters, who served 12 years with the detachment, was well-known around the community for his hands-on approach and frequent interaction with residents. His knowledge of the situation pertaining to policing in Chemainus and Crofton is vast and his petition garnered nearly 500 signatures in less than 24 hours since he started it Sunday.

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The policing issue has long drawn the ire of residents. The original pledge to maintain the two officers was made as a concession to extreme opposition to the closure.

But those levels were short-lived, van Seters pointed out, when the eight officers assigned to continue patrolling the former detachment area were continually drawn away to assist in policing the south end. As a result, the former Chemainus detachment area has become a rural patrol for the RCMP, he added, with response times to serious incidents proving woefully inadequate.

It’s a situation where he saw the writing on the wall back in 1998.

“Anybody who wanted to listen to me, I told them what was going to happen,” van Seters said. “For those two years I was still here, I was able to ensure we still had those patrols going on. I found myself, as well as the members patrolling Chemainus-Crofton, being drawn south.”

He eventually moved on to corporal with Highway Patrol on the Lower Mainland, sergeant of VIP protective services for 12 years and 4 1/2 years with the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team, including working from home after moving to Maple Bay 3 1/2 years ago. The Chemainus posting was always near and dear to his heart and he’s very concerned it still hasn’t been resolved to the public’s satisfaction after so long.

Seeing so many posts on Facebook motivated him to work toward that commitment from long ago being honoured.

“Criminal acts are going unreported, as residents have stopped calling the police for assistance,” van Seters noted. “The communities of Chemainus and Crofton provide a substantial tax base to the municipality, with little return. Population growth over the past 20 years has increased that tax base and the requirement for a regular police presence.”

The current police building in Chemainus has housed South Island Highway Patrol since 2000. That department will be moved into the new North Cowichan/Duncan RCMP building, leaving the Chemainus office vacant.

That would make an ideal location for the officers assigned to Chemainus, he proposes.

“The former Chemainus detachment must be returned to its rightful use as a zone policing office for residents of the north end, with North Cowichan/Duncan members assigned there for periods of time sufficient to become known to the residents where they can become the trusted community members they once were.

Van Seters stressed the petition can only be signed by residents living within the North Cowichan municipal boundaries. The petition can he accessed here.

Van Seters hopes the petition can be presented at a municipal council meeting in the near future, as COVID restrictions will allow.

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Nanaimo News Bulletin