Skip to content

New Westminster Police are teaming up with Queensborough residents to crack down on crime

New Westminster Police are encouraging Queensborough residents to take an active role in keeping their neighbourhood crime-free.
dave jones
New Westminster Police Chief Const. Dave Jones spoke to Queensborough residents at a recent crime prevention meeting organized by the Queensborough Residents’ Association.

New Westminster Police are encouraging Queensborough residents to take an active role in keeping their neighbourhood crime-free.

About 20 people turned out to the Queensborough Community Centre last week to hear from New Westminster Police Chief Const. Dave Jones and other officers about crime prevention efforts in their neighbourhood.

The meeting was organized by the Queensborough Residents’ Association after nearly a dozen residents living in the Port Royal neighbourhood had items stolen from their vehicles.

The evening included presentations by Jones, Const. Wendy Bowyer, Jennifer Sanford, from the crime prevention unit, Jeff Tannar, forensic video analyst, and Stuart Eng, IT and video analyst for the police department.

Bowyer, who lives in Queensborough, said the community has already done a good job developing its own crime prevention tools, including starting a private Facebook page for the neighbourhood, moderated by the residents’ association.

“You guys really have a block watch program now, it’s actually just in the 21st century where you’re using Facebook and stuff to communicate very quickly,” Bowyer said.

Residents often post photos and videos of suspicious activity or persons in the neighbourhood on the page as quickly as possible, and this helps police respond accordingly, Bowyer said.

“So the nice thing is you guys are quickly posting those on Facebook, which has allowed me to email them to myself at work and disseminate them quickly to the members,” she added.

In an effort to capitalize on the eagerness of residents to get involved in crime prevention, the police department and residents’ association have launched a volunteer registration system that asks residents with video surveillance systems to self-identify to police.

“In the event that we do have an incident or a major incident, we can quickly figure out who, in that area, has video surveillance, which can be a huge time saving measure,” Bowyer said.

Residents who would like to sign up, would provide their name, address and contact info to the police department along with information on the type of security system they own, the coverage area and duration of video retention.

“We’ve struck an intelligence file that I will monitor through our internal PRIME system. So the only people who will access to that will be the police department,” she said.

Registration is completely voluntary and residents can withdraw their information at any time, Bowyer added.

“When it comes to crime prevention, this is the part where the public really has to engage. Police can proactively patrol, we can be part of crime prevention programs, to some degree, and we can speak about techniques,” Jones told residents.

But residents have a role to play in crime prevention too, he added.

Queensborough residents interested in registering for the voluntary registration system can do so by emailing Bowyer at wbowyer@nwpolice.org.