Scott Stanfield
Record Staff
The Comox Valley RCMP is soliciting input from stakeholders to determine local issues of importance.
Last year, after meeting with the community, the following priority issues were identified:
•road safety (intersections)
•organized crime and crime reduction (prolific offenders and drugs)
•vandalism (mischief)
•traffic law enforcement
Courtenay Coun. Doug Hillian feels there is overlap among the priorities. Road safety and traffic law enforcement, for example, could be combined.
While not minimizing traffic enforcement, Hillian considers it secondary compared to domestic violence.
“I’d like to see it (domestic violence) rated as one of the highest priorities,” he said at Monday’s council meeting.
Hillian suggests youth crime should also receive a high rating.
He also feels foot patrols in the downtown core would promote safety for merchants and pedestrians.
Mayor Larry Jangula suggests something might be done about cyclists, some of whom do not make themselves visible and disobey the rules of the road. Hillian, however, prefers to encourage safety, not to regulate cyclists.
Once identified, priorities will be used in the RCMP detachment’s Annual Performance Plan decision-making process.