Foot patrols important to policing but won’t be increased

NEWS — Foot patrols will remain an important part of policing but aren’t likely to be increased any time soon.

With the friendly face of downtown foot patrols, Const. George Buttles, getting close to retirement, the topic came up for discussion at a meeting today of the Coordinated Enforcement Task Force.

Coun. Ken Christian said “the public feels warm and fuzzy about seeing a uniformed officer on the street” but wondered where they fit in with overall policing priorities.

“The whole aspect of having foot patrols is important to us and that’s one of the reasons we created the CAP team,” said Kamloops Central BIA general manager Gay Pooler, referring to the red-shirted summer student patrol.

“The prevention factor is key. We look on it as a big priority.”

“Perception becomes reality,” agreed Coun. Marg Spina. “People want to feel safe.”

RCMP Sup. Brad Mueller said foot patrols will be maintained “as long as I’m in the chair.”

But he said, “We have a limited amount of resources and if you were to offer me two or three more resources, stats would probably show I could deploy them to areas of greater need than foot patrols.”

The task force made no recommendations to change the status of foot patrols. “I’m not hearing a big push that we need to double the size of foot patrols,” said Mayor Peter Milobar.