Kamloops, B.C., business owner wants overnight patrols

Every day, Mike Ward cleans up needles and condoms from in front of his North Shore restaurant, Reubin's Diner.

"There's all kind of stuff. Every night, we have to clean up and that shouldn't happen," said the Kamloops business owner.

Ward says he's also seeing more crime in the area, especially visible drug dealing. Heattributes part of the problem to the influx ofpeople who came into the community after they were evacuated from surrounding areas because of the wildfires.

"The whole street was overrun ... a lot of negative stuff going on and it really affected all of us, all the businesses around here."

He says less people visited his business this summer, and he's concerned that people will continue to stay away.

In order to address that, Ward would like to see the City of Kamloops play a role.

"It's as simple as having one or two bylaw [officers] spending four or five hours in the time whereno one's around and involvethe police where needed."

City lacks resources

Ward would like to see the bylaw officers patrol the area overnight, but the city's director of corporate services and community safety, David Duckworth, says that's not going to happen.

He oversees police, bylaws and fire services in Kamloops. Currently, bylaw officers patrol until 11 p.m., but, as of this January, that will change, so officers end their shifts at 9 p.m.

"A lot of the activity that's occurring around midnight and the early morning hours are criminal in nature. They are not bylaw infractions ...and our RCMP local detachment's well aware of hotspots in our community," said Duckworth.

He says businesses can make changes to improve safety around their building, including improving the lightingand using a private security firm to do drive-by patrols.

"Not 100 per cent of the responsibility can rest on the municipality, because we just simply don't have the resources to provide those services. If we did, we would be there, but we just don't," said Duckworth.

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