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Businesses take on crime

Surrey Board of Trade hosts series to discuss strategies
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South Surrey business leaders met with city and law officials Thursday morning to discuss crime-reduction strategies and goals.

Hosted by the Surrey Board of Trade at Ocean Park Village Pub, the annual Crime Breakfast Series featured topics ranging from closed-circuit television to property theft.

RCMP Chief Supt. Bill Fordy, Staff Sgt. Dan Gibbons and Surrey Coun. Barinder Rasode were on hand for the series to answer questions and address concerns for the crowd.

When asked about bringing CCTV to the city by Cliff Annable, South Surrey & White Rock Chamber of Commerce’s executive director, Rasode noted that while there may be a desire to bring the cameras in, the decision is ultimately out of the city’s hands.

“I’ll be very candid, there are sometimes a) conflicting research, b) some technology challenges and c) definitely a challenge with the privacy commissioner for the province,” Rasode said. “We are very aggressive where we can be. But there is a point where our hands are tied because of other levels of government.”

On the topic of technology and crime reduction, Fordy announced that Surrey RCMP will be going live with online crime reporting in the coming days, which he hoped would encourage people to come forward with crimes, such as property theft.

“One of the things we need to do in law enforcement is stay current with technology,” Fordy said. “We expect in the next week we will go live on electronic reporting in the City of Surrey. That will help us track crimes that people don’t think are worthwhile to report, for example, theft from auto.”

Both Fordy and Gibbons stressed the importance of reporting crimes, no matter how big or small, to police.

“We can’t know if we don’t know,” Fordy said.

For more on the series, visit www.businessinsurrey.com