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Bus loop a very busy place for police

Steps being taken in Langley City to reduce challenges at the bus loop on Logan Avenue.
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Crews have installed new lighting at the Langley City bus loop. Police have received many calls to the exchange in recent months, and one of the issues has been insufficient lighting.

In 2014, there were 706 calls for police service in the area around the bus loop, Glover Road and the alleys around Duncan Way.

According to Langley RCMP City community liaison officer Cpl. Shannon Savinkoff, from 2010 until February of this year, the area has generated more than 1,100 files, with a high amount of property crime, violent crime and other disturbances.

“The area is well known for drug dealing, homeless camps and social services,” said Savinkoff, who spoke at the most recent Crime Prevention Task Force meeting on Wednesday.

Since Mayor Ted Schaffer set up this task force, TransLink has installed new lighting there and police are doing more patrols.

Changes have happened in policing of the City too.

A new sergeant has been hired and will work full-time out of the CPO office at 204 Street and Douglas Crescent. Savinkoff is working with the task force, a mental health liaison officer has been hired and officers are planning to be more visible on the streets.

Greg Perkins, who is helping the task force find ways to make the City a safer place reducing crime through environmental design, said those numbers near the bus loop are daunting.

“That is equivalent to six officers just working that zone 24 hours a day. That is taking up a lot of police resources,” said Perkins, a former police officer from Ontario.

He is tasking the group to research crime reduction strategies that have worked in other parts of the world, like Australia and the U.K.

“We can find out best practices and which strategies can be applied here in Langley,” he said.

Perkins pointed out that crime has a real cost to communities.

It’s estimated crime cost Canada $85 billion last year, he said.

While the task force is looking at crime reduction, homelessness is a central topic.

“Being homeless is not a crime,” said Savinkoff. “But it is a chronic situation that we need to manage. We can’t solve it, so we need to find the best ways to manage it.”

In last year’s homeless count, there were 92 people counted as not having a home in Langley. That is much higher than many other communities. Savinkoff noted that many people who are homeless in the Township come into the City to use the services.

Last month, City bylaw chief officer Raminder Uppal broke up an entrenched and sophisticated homeless camp in the woods in the City.

He showed pictures of the camp, which had its own surveillance cameras and a operating fridge, powered by generators and propane.

It cost the City thousands of dollars to dismantle it, he said. The City has also spent a fair amount of money and time shutting down five rental houses on the east side of town which were being taken up by addicts and criminals.

But Uppal stressed that he can ask a homeless person to move along, but he has no jurisdiction to move them.

Neither do police.

“If someone is screaming, drunk or high, police can arrest them,” said Savinkoff.

When it comes to panhandlers, police have no avenues to legally to do anything, unless they are being aggressive.

“What is the point of ticketing them. We all know they have no money and don’t care if they get a ticket,” she said.

She encouraged business owners to ask politely for panhandlers to leave.

“If they refuse, you can call us,” she said.

The City also did a sweep of businesses last week, making sure their business licenses matched the zoning for the area. It was mainly looking for stores that were selling drug paraphernalia.

The task force has asked that the City provide the group with a detailed map outlining what type of businesses are allowed in the C1 zoning that surrounds downtown.

 

 



Monique Tamminga

About the Author: Monique Tamminga

Monique brings 20 years of award-winning journalism experience to the role of editor at the Penticton Western News. Of those years, 17 were spent working as a senior reporter and acting editor with the Langley Advance Times.
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