Merritt Mounties are maintaining the same strategic priorities from last year, and want to make a greater effort to target open drinking in the downtown core this summer.
RCMP Const. Tracy Dunsmore said the RCMP plan to have officers doing more patrols to deter public intoxication.
She said she’s seen a decrease in the amount of people drinking in Spirit Square since the Community Policing Office moved there about a month ago.
She said she’s already confiscated and poured out liquor that people have brought there to drink.
“I think they get tired of that and they say ‘We’re not going to drink here because we lose half our bottle to the flower garden,’” she said.
RCMP strategic priorities for 2016-17 include foot and bike patrols, youth initiatives, curfew compliance checks, licensed premise checks, education on domestic violence and engaging First Nations communities.
Police are keeping the same strategic priorities as last year because many have been making progress and therefore it wouldn’t make sense to conclude them, Staff Sgt. Sheila White said at a City of Merritt police committee meeting earlier this month.
“We’re very reluctant to change the priorities because they’re working for us and in order to have success we’re going to continue on and [focus on] the same priorities [because] they are the issues we see in the community,” White told the Herald.
