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Mark Burley couldn’t be happier with the direction being taken by Kelowna’s new top cop.
The executive director of the Downtown Kelowna Association says additional boots on the ground patrolling downtown streets will give residents, and tourists, an extra sense of safety.
“It matches up with the letter to council the DKA sent back on Oct. 29 of 2019 requesting additional members to the ‘beat squad,'” Burley said.
“We have a couple right now in Mike and Sam, who have been out there for over a year, and are really well received because the uniform does make people stand up and take notice.”
RCMP Supt. Kara Triance told city council during a presentation Monday that she intends to continue investing resources in the downtown core to promote safety and police visibility.
The six-member foot patrol and six-member bike patrol are all concentrating mainly in the downtown area.
Burley says it’s a step in the right direction, especially with the busy summer season right around the corner.
“It’s extremely important,” Burley said about RCMP visibility.
“We advocated for more foot patrol officers, because we feel having them out of vehicles, off bikes and out of golf carts is more helpful. When they’re walking, people talk to them, and when they’re not they don’t.
“It’s more than the presence of an RCMP officer that can deal with the crime issues or homelessness issues. It’s that they can do community policing from the standpoint of talking to people while they are walking in downtown Kelowna.”
He added the job of downtown officers, similar to the DKA’s Downtown On Call Team, is less about police work and more about an awareness of social issues, something he says Triance is aware of.
“She’s very aware that we do have issues with homelessness and issues, like all major cities do, with the opioid crisis and drug use,” he said. “She’s addressing those by making some moves, moving some people around and creating new teams.”
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