Lynn Lau
Northern News Services

Sachs Harbour (Oct 08/01) - People worried about the level of policing in their community got a chance to air their views at two public meetings held last week.

Wednesday night, at a meeting with police, two constables from Inuvik vowed to keep in better contact with the community, but stopped short of promising more regular visits.

Thursday afternoon, MLAs Vince Steen (Nunakput) and Roger Allen (Inuvik Twin Lakes) visited on a side trip from a tour of other communities.

They lent their support to the hamlet's efforts to get a police detachment, and they agreed to pass the community's concerns on to the Minister of Justice, Jim Antoine.

Both meetings packed out the hamlet chambers with between 30 to 40 people --about a third of the population.

Mayor Andy Carpenter Sr. said the number of people who showed up was an indication of how important the issue is. "We had a big turn out -- the most that have ever been at any meeting with anyone," he said. "I think we got our point across that we need someone here."

The hamlet has been trying to get a permanent detachment for several years now, but it wasn't until last month that dissatisfaction with the police reached a crescendo. That's when police were called, but didn't respond immediately to a mini-crime wave which included reports of drunken shootings, break-ins at four offices and the local Co-op store, and then a couple weeks later, a suspected arson fire on two abandoned buildings outside town.

Most of the events took place Sept. 13, yet police did not arrive until Oct. 1, 18 days later. No one was injured, but many wished the police could have come sooner. The last time police had been to this community was early July.

The two meetings went a long way toward soothing frustrations, but Carpenter said the hamlet will keep pushing for a detachment. "I don't think the people really got what they wanted out of the RCMP because the ones who are here can't really answer the questions that the people had," he said. "It's the same thing with (the MLAs). But they said they'll be lobbying for us, so that's one good thing. We're going to try different ways of getting someone up here. We won't give up."

Beverly Esau, manager-in-training at the Ikahuk Co-op that was broken into last month, said the meetings made her feel better. "(The RCMP) are a friendly lot of guys and they sound like they really want to help. They answered what questions they could and they gave us a few suggestions on how to alleviate some of the problems."

Her husband, hamlet Coun. Fred Raddi agreed. "It was very good. They were very open and up front. Pretty much everything that there was concerns about were brought up there."

Const. Dan Martin, one of the officers in Sachs last week, said police had finished investigating the incidences from last month, but he would not say if any charges would be laid or if anyone had been arrested.