Community Safety and Security team ready to launch in Saint John

A pilot program aimed at improving safety and security in parts of Saint John is set to start Feb. 2.

The Community Safety and Security Team was formed in response to residents, businesses and community partners raising concerns about safety and disorder in parts of Waterloo Village, uptown Saint John and the Thorne Avenue/Rothesay Avenue corridor.

The team is being delivered by GardaWorld as a contracted, non-police service.

Patrols will ramp up to 24-7 through February to ensure a smooth start.

The first week will see team members on the street from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. with all team members scheduled.

The City hopes this will result in higher visibility in the service area and a focus on introductions and relationship-building with residents and businesses.

Service will extent to 6 a.m. to midnight for the second and third weeks before the move around-the-clock coverage.

The city’s manager of community standards said team members will address day-to-day issues affecting safety and accessibility in public spaces.

“Including but not limited to obstruction, open drug or alcohol use, vandalism and littering, using voluntary compliance first,” said Benn Purinton.

“When situations are outside of scope or meet escalation thresholds, the team will hand off to the appropriate partner.”

Purinton stressed the team members are not police.

“They do not investigate crimes and they do not detain people.”

Coun. Barry Ogden said he’d be OK supporting the project through its pilot phase, which is two years.

“But for me, a major problem that we have is our police department’s not up to full complement,” Ogden said. “We are taking action, but I want our police department up to full complement and I hope that we can do that as soon as possible.”