NELSON, B.C. – After two weeks with a new extra beat officer in Nelson, police chief Paul Burkart says the addition has helped the department.
“We can do a lot of preventative and proactive policing rather than typical response policing that a lot of departments do. So we are very lucky that way, to be able to focus on the downtown core”, Burkart told My Nelson Now on Friday.
The new downtown beat officer is constable Rob Armstrong, a retired Toronto Police Service member who moved to Nelson a few years ago.
The decision to fill extra shifts throughout the summer came after police chief Burkart asked council for more resources to manage the summer months, when Nelsons population increases.
“We are staffed for a city of 10.000 people, and in the summer it is more like 16.000”, Burkart says.
July is the busiest month for Nelson police, with increases in call volume sometimes hitting 60 percent.
Last July Nelson police got 658 calls, compared to February, when 404 calls were recorded.
“A lot of those calls are focused around the downtown area”, Burkart says.