The Community Policing and Services Office will now be closed as downtown businesses call for a renewed focus on safety. (Google Earth)

By Spencer Sterritt

tactical retreat

Downtown Nanaimo community policing office to close despite objections from neighbourhood businesses

May 9, 2020 | 6:56 AM

NANAIMO — A decision has finally been made about the Community Policing and Services Office in downtown Nanaimo.

Councillors unanimously voted in favour of closing the office on Victoria Cres. during their Monday, May 4 meeting.

Dave Lawrence, business owner and Victoria Cres. Neighbourhood Association vice-president, said it’s a disheartening move by the City.

“I’ve never seen downtown in a worse spot than it is now. There’s so many issues,” he told NanaimoNewsNOW. “Having that building there is a good spot because you’d have RCMP going there who’s happen to see something happening and would be able to help.

Lawrence expressed frustration the office wasn’t being utilized fully.

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The office has always seemed like a good idea but it never reached its full potential. It was designed to house community policing officers, bylaw officers and security workers to help with crime in the downtown core, but now sits empty much of the time.

Nanaimo RCMP withdrew by 2012 due to redeployments and a lack of minimum security standards in the office. Since then it’s only used by parking bylaw officers twice a day and sits empty the rest of the time.

“We’ve fought to have that building stay open for three or four years now,” Lawrence said. “The fact this finally happened is very disheartening.”

The 2016 Core Services Review recommended the office be closed. It was slated to be shuttered but the past administration asked it be re-assessed after business owners from the area, including Lawrence, suggested it be used as a hub for other agencies.

The council of the day then voted staff find agencies and non-profits to staff the building and help tackle the increasingly overwhelming downtown issue.

More than two years later, City staff said outreach identifying partners for the office were unsuccessful.

“Many outreach team clients would not attend to an office where enforcement services are co-located,” a staff report said.

Despite the lack of progress in finding a suitable use for the building, Lawrence believed a task force of some kind to tackle downtown Nanaimo issues should still be created.

“Downtown is hurting right now and it needs a lot of help.”

The month-to-month rental agreement for the space will now be cancelled, saving the City of Nanaimo more than $40,000 a year.

Editor’s note: this is a corrected story clarifying the cost of the office.

spencer@nanaimonewsnow.com

On Twitter: @spencer_sterrit