Beach Grove residents are looking to get pro-active in working with Delta Police following an increasing rate of vehicle break-ins and theft.
Last week, between 60 and 70 households of the Beach Grove Neighbourhood Association took part in a virtual information session with the DPD.
The purpose of the session, according to Warren Flandez who if the administrator of the association’s Facebook group was to bring their community together on this ongoing issue and brainstorm how they can all collectively keep crime out of Beach Grove.
The session started with a power point presentation from Const. Geoff Young, the district liaison officer in Tsawwassen and district supervisor S/Sgt. Gwen Vaughan-Smith followed by a fulsome question and answer session.
“They talked about a lot of programs that are going on that none of the residents knew about, so it really changed the perceptions of what the police are doing,” said Flandez in a follow-up interview with the Optimist. “Things like Block Watch, covert patrols. People didn’t know they could register their security cameras or have police come by and assess their security systems or that police can come and do checks of their property when people are away.
“Const. Young also told us that he has an open door policy for the community to come to the community policing officer, which was really good to hear. The whole session was very productive.”
Flandez said this was a great exercise to just open the door for people in the community to go directly to the police with their concerns rather than airing it out over social media.
“It was a good way to continue the dialogue,” he said. “I think it inspired everyone. A lot of people don’t feel safe. Could this escalate from vehicle break-ins to house break-ins? I think what we agreed on is that there would be an update that we could post in our group. I want to see events like this surrounding anything that goes on within our community. I think it is important that all the neighbours get involved and have a voice. There is power in numbers just collectively putting forward ideas and looking out for one another.”
Young said he was also pleased with how the meeting went.
“It was very well received. We had a lot of positive comments from everyone,” he said. “It was good platform to introduce me as the district liaison officer. We did address the recent theft from autos and what we are doing. We can only share a small amount of that information so we don’t jeopardize the ongoing investigations.”
