Break-ins, public drug use — Charlottetown residents looking for city to act
CBC
Terry Avery is staying in a cottage in North Lake, P.E.I., and worried, she says, about returning to her Charlottetown home because drug use in the area is so bad.
"We've had people going through our garbage cans. We are told they are looking for things they can sell," Avery told CBC News..
"I've had two licence plates stolen off the car and the truck. We had our van broken into, windows smashed, things stolen from it."
Avery's concerns about returning to her home of 35 years, on a side street just off of Euston Street in Charlottetown, come as Charlottetown council presses police to develop a plan for dealing with crime in the city.
"I watched people doing drugs. I watched a guy doing a line of cocaine off the back of a car next to my house," said Avery.
"The police were on our street three times in a week not long ago. And one of those calls a neighbour made because someone was doing drugs on my doorstep."
Avery is hoping something comes out of the city's new plan.
"It's really hard when you see your neighborhood going downhill," she said.
At a special meeting of Charlottetown city council on Monday night, council members voted unanimously for Charlottetown Police to come up with a "community plan with key performance indicators that address illicit drug use and related illegal behaviour."
The motion was put forward by Deputy Mayor Alanna Jankov.
"We've been all hearing from the community, Charlottetown as a whole. Many people are feeling unsafe," Jankov said.
"There are a lot of break-ins — cars, people's backyard. People are feeling unsafe in the parks, people are feeling unsafe on the sidewalks, their bicycles are being stolen. There seems to be a real shift in what is happening in our community over the last few years."
Jankov wants police to look at what other municipalities in Canada are doing — what was tried and what failed, she said.
"Do our bylaws need to be stricter? You know, as a city what can we do to support our protective services?" Jankov said.