The New Westminster Police Department has shut down the front desk at the station for the time being, in an effort to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 strain of the coronavirus.
“In order to both encourage residents to stay home and limit exposure to our staff at the police department, we closed our administrative front counter services,” acting Chief Const. Dave Jansen stated in an email to the Record. “All of our most in-demand services can be accessed through our website, including police information checks, freedom of information requests, and online crime reporting.”
The non-emergency line is still operating, and anyone with an emergency should call 911, he added.
The police have a plan in place during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Jansen.
“The department has a pandemic plan, which provides us guidance on everything from staffing levels to personal protective equipment,” he stated. “We are consistently updating our situational awareness on COVID-19, which includes monitoring updates from provincial and federal health authorities and speaking to other police agencies about best practices.”
The department has done an inventory of supplies and updated staff on the plan, he added, and staff have been told to stay home when ill.
“All precautions and processes that are being implemented are being done to minimize the impact to the community,” he stated. “We’re aware that in the role of first responders we have to exercise a greater degree of care, so we can continue to provide residents of New Westminster the services they depend on.
“We appreciate the New Westminster community and hope that we can all pull together as a community even though we need to make all efforts to stay apart until this virus runs its course,” Jansen added.
