The city of Burnaby is taking extra precautions in its parks in the wake of the murder in July of 13-year-old Marrisa Shen.
The city is looking at bike patrols with bylaw officers cruising through some of its larger parks, installing security cameras in Central Park, where Shen's boy was found, adding more lighting, enhancing signage and establishing call boxes. It says the initiatives have been discussed for years and are not just because of Shen’s untimely death.
Sadly, there have been no charges in Shen’s murder and it remains a tragedy and an unsolved mystery for the family and the community, who are seeking closure.
It makes sense to step up security in large urban parks but how far should cities — including the cities of Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam and Port Moody — go to keep their parks safe?
Even if there were more lights or call boxes, people should always be careful, especially once it gets dark.
Using common sense and watching out for each other, those are key initiatives and easy to employ in our neighbourhoods.
