Security funding dries up

By J.P. SQUIRE Monday, August 13, 2007 http://www.dailycourier.ca/stories.php?id=59054

The clock is ticking on the Downtown Vernon Association‘s private security patrol. City council will have the final say today (Monday). After submitting a request for $40,000 in March to continue downtown patrols through the end of the year, DVA president Malcom Dunn will present two options to council today, said DVA executive director Earl Hansen on the weekend. Dunn will ask the city to accept responsibility for the security functions performed by the B.C. Commissionaires through two options: use of city resources or by hiring the Commissionaires, said Hansen. Specifically, the DVA wants someone, such as city bylaw enforcement officers, downtown in the morning when employees go from their vehicles to work and in the evening when they return to their vehicles, and someone to “attend to the hot spots: the Cenotaph Park, the parkade,” he said. The other option is for the city to take on the B.C Commissionaires as a city function and pay the full cost of the service. “We‘re going to advise the city that our commitment to funding the Commissionaires will end on Aug. 31,” said Hansen. “We‘ve come a long way but we don‘t want to slide back. We have come to the conclusion that security is a long-term need. Rather than just doing it until the end of the year, to consolidate some of the gains perhaps, the feeling is this kind of extra layer of protection is working and needs to be an ongoing function.” The DVA feels the service has proven of value after receiving many e-mails from businesses and those who use downtown saying they feel safer. “The general impression is that we‘ve really moved forward quite substantially in the security downtown,” said Hansen.