Strengthening community safety: Expanding City partnerships through On-Call community patrol teams

Community partnerships are leading the charge in safeguarding our neighborhoods and boosting local businesses. In Kelowna, community on-call patrols are helping keep neighborhoods safe and are a major focus for the City’s Business Improvement Areas (BIAs). These BIAs are special zones created by the City to support local businesses by promoting them, improving visitor experiences, and providing extra maintenance and cleaning services.

As one of Canada’s fastest-growing cities, the City recognized a need to expand and deepen our community safety partnerships and our collaboration with systems leaders that influence community safety. This year, building on the success of the Downtown Kelowna Association’s (DKA) community patrol, the City recently announced the investment in a one-time grant of $130k to the Uptown Rutland Business Association (URBA) On-Call Pilot project. The initial request for funding followed RCMP reports of a spike in Rutland crime, climbing 27.5 per cent over the first eight months of 2023 compared with 2022, while calls for service in Kelowna’s downtown core fell 22.3 per cent over the same time.

The Rutland Business Improvement Zone’s URBA On-Call team is the second such patrol supported by the City and hopes to mirror the accomplishments of by the DKA downtown patrol by working closely within their neighborhoods to:

•  build relationships with businesses and residents,
• enhance safety by providing a timely, first response to safety-related incidents,
• improve overall cleanliness and overall neighborhood appeal of Uptown Rutland, and,
• offer information about resources to help business owners keep their operations safe and inviting.

According to Darren Caul, Community Safety Director for the City of Kelowna, “The City’s recent increased partnership with URBA and DKA is an investment in community safety. Addressing crime and safety is one of  Mayor and Council’s  top priorities, and by supporting the development of a second On-Call program in Rutland, the City is supporting the first official recommendation of the Mayor’s Task Force on Crime Reduction to “invest in Business Improvement Area community safety programs.”

The Evolution of Kelowna’s Community On-Call Patrols

The DKA On Call (or “Red Shirt) team and the new URBA On-Call team both work to maintain high visibility in Kelowna’s downtown and central Rutland areas and fosters a safe environment to residents, businesses and visitors. In addition to other safety services in the downtown, they help with:

• monitoring public areas to do wellness checks, reduce loitering, and address aggressive or suspicious behaviour,
• offering Safe Walk escorts to business employees, customers and residents,
• assisting with removal of drug paraphernalia and other community clean-up, and,
• helping to educate businesses on reducing criminal activity on their property through violence de-escalation training, environmental design principles and shoplifting reduction practices.

Through their ongoing, crucial presence as community ambassadors and peacekeepers, our on-call neighborhood patrols also help to significantly reduce the number of lower priority calls to RCMP and Bylaw officers and reduce the escalation of incidents requiring hospital visits. Broc Tracey, Community Safety Advisor with the City’s Community Safety Services Branch, notes that these patrols have significant value for the City’s safety services, allowing our Bylaw and RCMP officers to focus on priority calls:  

“[Only] about 10% of these reported incidents would have actually required first priority response from RCMP and Bylaw intervention. Our Community Safety Staff also stay closely connected and share valuable information with the DKA and URBA teams, while Bylaw Services and the RCMP Community Safety Unit also gain valuable information through these partnerships.”

In the coming year, ongoing reviews of this pilot project will provide important insight on how many calls and resources that on-call teams managed to divert from Kelowna RCMP and Bylaw officers who would have reviewed these types of citizen inquiries in the past.

Making a positive impact – One BIA at a time

Connecting to community ambassadors such as our downtown on call teams create a sense of shared community and responsibility for safety. When people know and trust their ambassadors walking the streets, they are more likely to report issues and look to them for information, allowing for timely and appropriate responses without immediately feeling the need to involve the police.

Above: (Front row L to R) Councillor Rick Webber, On Call Team member Harwinder Singh, URBA President Navjit Khun Khun, URBA Executive Director Karen Beaubier, Mayor Tom Dyas, Councillor Loyal Wooldridge, Councillor Maxine DeHart. (Back row L to R) MLA Renee Merrifield, Councillor Mohini Singh, Darren Caul (Director, Community Safety Services, City of Kelowna), On Call Team members Razan Vig and  Navkirat Singh.

Recently the DKA “red shirt” patrol has expanded to include a Downtown Clean Team of “blue shirt” ambassadors who address community clean up, graffiti removal and safe needle collection. The URBA on call team patrols the Central Rutland area from Monday to Friday (7 am to 5 pm) and is available by phone at 250-998-0335. The City’s DKA on-call program is on duty in the city centre Monday to Friday (7 am to 9 pm) and can be contacted at 250-470-9058.

To learn more about the DKA and URBA On-Call team patrols visit Downtown On Call - Downtown Kelowna and  URBA ON CALL – Uptown Rutland (ourrutland.ca).  For the latest information about City of Kelowna community Safety initiatives, sign up for regular e-news updates at: e-Subscribe notifications | City of Kelowna

Safe in 60 – Top Crime Tips – Preventing Crime by Design with CPTED

Did you know you can contribute to your community safety just through how you design the exterior of your home or business? Check out our new “Safe in 60” video on Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design and find quick, easy safety improvement tips straight from City of Kelowna Community Safety Advisors. For more simple tips on improving the safety of your home or business, check out our new Community Safety Toolkit and Business Safety Toolkit.