RCMP to open second location in downtown Moncton
CBC
Codiac Regional RCMP will open a second location in downtown Moncton this year to address concerns about public safety and homelessness.
The force's community policing unit will relocate from the RCMP's Main Street detachment to 795 Main St. by the end of June. It's about 500 metres west of the detachment and will be leased for five years.
The second location was among 27 steps recommended in a report last year by a task force on homelessness and public safety by the Chamber of Commerce for Greater Moncton.
The task force was launched after mounting concerns about panhandling, property crime and people sleeping in business doorways.
Supt. Ron DeSilva, Codiac Regional RCMP's commanding officer, said the location is meant to offer greater police visibility in the core.
"The number one objective is to have presence, to be able to interact with not just the business owners, but the citizens downtown and our homeless population," DeSilva said.
It also will free up space in the detachment that's now considered too small for the current force.
The city will also use the space to house its community safety officers who patrol downtown. They patrol the city and enforce municipal bylaws, but don't have the same powers as police officers.
DeSilva said about eight people will work from the office on the police side. The city's community safety officers will be in a separate area from the RCMP.
Earlier this month, councillors were told the space will cost about $131,000 annually, which will come from the Codiac Regional Policing Authority's existing $34.5-million budget.
The CRPA oversees Codiac RCMP, the force that polices Moncton, Dieppe and Riverview.
The announcement of the new space was made as councillors were given an update on the task force during a committee meeting Monday morning.
The task force, which included representatives of all three levels of government, downtown businesses and organizations that provide services to homeless people, issued its report in November.
Among its recommendations were pushing the province to offer a mental health court, providing mental health and addictions supports in homeless shelters, and studying safe drug injection sites.
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