A security firm has been hired to patrol Westwood Street and Fox Park in Port Coquitlam to reduce crime, loitering, drug use and other anti-social activity in the area.
Cars now patrol the areas at night, said PoCo Coun. Glenn Pollock, who said security could be ramped up further if needed.
For now, he said, the pilot program seems to be working.
“No issues have been reported,” said Pollock, who said GardaWorld staff started patrolling the area approximately one month ago and that, together with Coquitlam RCMP attention, seems to be keeping a lid on problems.
Westwood, which borders Coquitlam and Port Coquitlam, is home to a variety of businesses, including retail stores, automotive shops, a methadone clinic and a child care centre.
It’s also close to Fox Park, often used as a pathway for transients in the neighbourhood and some have suggested a nearby homeless shelter and transition housing on Gordon Avenue is the reason for some problems in the area.
Recently, a Coquitlam task force looked into safety issues around the shelter and made several recommendations to deal with problems, including working with senior levels of government to provide more housing and addiction services.
But Pollock, who attended some of the task group meetings, said he wanted a more immediate solution and it made sense to get GardaWorld to monitor the Westwood Street neighbourhood because the security firm already monitors PoCo hot spots.
In 2017, the city spent $43,000 for security, according to a recent Statement of Financial Information report. But Pollock wouldn’t rule out more security for the area if needed.
“I’m willing to do a preliminary thing with GardaWorld and see if that eliminates problems. If it doesn’t, I’m happy to talk to Coquitlam to take it forward,” Pollock said.
The extra security, along with improvements to Fox Park now underway, have been met with approval from the local neighbourhood, according to Ammar Ahmed, who runs the Fox Park Community Facebook group.
Ahmed said the community was getting increasingly frustrated with seeing drug deals go down in and around the park and sketchy people hanging out in it. He said a playground upgrade and security in the area will make things better, especially for families.
“It would deter people from hanging around and loitering,” Ahmed said.
But he said he would like PoCo to do more about making lines of sight better, especially in the treed portion of the park, so people feel more comfortable using the path.
“More maintenance of the park would be nice,” he said, pointing to some litter that could be seen in one of the trees and a beer can in a scrubby meadow next to a playing area. “If it looks better, more people will come, and if more people come, fewer miscreants will be here."
Still, Ahmed said much has already been done to clean up the area, which has improved since late 2017, when a child in Fox Park got pricked by a used hypothermic needle that was buried in the gravel.
Since then, the city has made daily garbage pick-up a priority, and continues sweeps of the park for drug paraphernalia.
Ahmed also welcomes a $180,000 park upgrade to add new structures, such as slides and swings and efforts to make the playground more accessible.
“It has improved quite a bit,” Ahmed said, “I’ve seen people in high-vis[ibility] vests cleaning up the area and I’ve seen fewer police because there have been fewer incidents.
“We have been waiting for this,” the father of three said.
