Barbara Latkowski
Caledonia Courier
According to the Fort St. James RCMP, members of the detachment remain committed to their established priorities.
Fort St. James, in general has seen a minor decrease in property crime recently but due to the release of prolific offenders back into the community, these numbers may change according to the detachment.
Overall, established priorities include the prevention of alcohol and substance abuse in the downtown core.
This also includes the RCMP conducting follow ups with identified social chronic offenders to help support positive lifestyle changes. This remains an ongoing project.
According to Staff Sergeant Sean Wadelius, community identified traffic issues of speeding, no insurance, impaired drivers and other concerns identified by the Traffic Committee in Fort St. James have been addressed over the summer months.
“The main concerns that are continually being raised is the issue of speeding industrial vehicles and in the coming weeks, further enforcement efforts will be directed in this area,” Wadelius said.
Patrols on Stuart Lake were made possible in the summer months and many checks were conducted thanks to a policing budget provided by North District.
The RCMP says that drug issues continue to be an ongoing concern with fentanyl being present in the community as well as other drugs.
“This area is the most difficult to affect positive change through enforcement as credible information is required and that has been a consistent deterrent to targeted enforcement. With the transfer of detachment members who held key positions on ongoing projects, there will be replacement members added to these projects which in turn will bring new ideas as well as stability,”Wadelius said.
The current state of detachment power will see two vacancies in the future of the RCMP in Fort St. James.