by Richard Gleeson
Northern News Services

NNSL (Sep 12/97) - The RCMP know best how to police effectively, say the mayor and a city alderman.

Mayor Dave Lovell says he isn't sure if more foot patrols would help curb criminal activity in the city's core. "If six officers are on duty and you put two on foot patrol you cut the response time of the team," says Lovell.

He also questions how effective foot patrols would be in the downtown core.

"I don't know that one RCMP (officer) would be much good, and four would be a little ridiculous. They know how to do their job, I don't," says the mayor.

"You ask what's most effective, and I'm not the guy to tell you."

Ald. Vi Beck says foot patrols in the downtown core would reduce the RCMP's ability to respond in other areas of the city.

"There was a child on fire last night. Would a foot patrol downtown have prevented that?" she asks.

The city's municipal enforcement division has no more authority than any regular citizen when it comes to crimes such as assault, notes director Gil Cox.

Municipal enforcement is mandated to enforce city bylaws and the Highway Traffic Act, but not the Criminal Code.

"I'm not anxious for us to get the authority either," says Cox. "It would involve further training and more resources. But we can't continue to provide the same services we do now and take on more responsibility with the same resources."

Municipal enforcement officers work two-member shifts each day of the week, from 7 a.m. to midnight.

Lovell, Cox and Beck maintain that the real solution to the problem does not lie with the police.

"This isn't a police problem, it's a community problem," says Lovell.

Referring to Quality Furniture owner Les Rocher's complaint of the slow response by the fire department earlier this month when a fire gutted his store, the mayor says, "Les mentioned the alarm rang for 45 minutes. Every person who drove by while that alarm was ringing was part of the problem."

Where youth violence is concerned, Beck says solutions must begin in the home.

"I definitely think parents need to take more responsibility for their kids," she says. "The RCMP can pick them up and take them home, but if the parents don't have control of them, they'll be back out in five minutes."