The Community Policing department within Nanaimo RCMP is taking a closer look at six neighbourhoods. (Ian Holmes/NanaimoNewsNOW)
Deeper look

Nanaimo neighbourhoods identified for new community safety audit program

Mar 27, 2021 | 6:53 AM

NANAIMO — Police are taking a deeper look at six Nanaimo neighbourhoods.

Community safety audits are set to begin in early April in neighbourhoods throughout the downtown and south Nanaimo areas: Brechin Hill, Newcastle, the Old City Quarter, Victoria Cres., much of Harewood and Haliburton St.

The new initiative collect surveys from neighbourhood residents to provide a snapshot of what life is like in the streets and back alleys from a public safety perspective.

Community Policing Coordinator Christy Wood previously told NanaimoNewsNOW the input helps officers learn what’s happening when they’re not around.

“Due to the crazy amounts of work our police officers have, sometimes it’s hard to actually take the time to listen, outside of crisis response, to how people are feeling. How neighbours, business owners and youth travel through and see the community isn’t always known by all of us who actually work in community safety, since we all have different experiences,” she said when the program was announced earlier in 2021.

Wood said social disorder is expected to be one of the largest concerns heard in each neighbourhood.

Cst. Gary O’Brien told NanaimoNewsNOW these are the first six neighbourhoods to be examined. If the audits are successful, he said many more Nanaimo neighbourhoods will undergo safety audits.

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