The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Jonathon Naylor Editor As city council faces renewed calls for downtown RCMP foot patrols, one councillor wonders whether some of the perceived problems actually constitute crime. At Tuesday's council meeting, downtown employee Loretta Burke described a recent Saturday afternoon that saw 'quite a number of intoxicated people hanging out at the usual areas.' 'How intoxicated are they? Intoxicated enough to be a nuisance,' she told council. Burke said intoxicated people's habit of standing in front of store entrances is intimidating people. She said she herself saw three individuals, whom she could tell had been drinking, in front of a business and did not feel safe near them. But Coun. Skip Martin wasn't sure what could be done about that type of situation. 'I guess I'm trying to think of an actual law. I mean, it's a perceived threat, but did they actually threaten somebody?' he said. 'It's a public place, right?' Coun. Martin said he has seen intoxicated people who are a 'nuisance' but, thinking back to his time in Winnipeg, recalled how police would usually only pick people up if they were severely drunk or passed out. He agreed the situation Burke described was not good, prompting her to say that if that's the case, then something must be done. See 'Steady...' on pg. 6 Continued from pg. 1 Burke argued regular downtown police foot patrols _ something council promised to discuss with the RCMP at their Jan. 15 meeting _ are a necessity. She said that since the Jan. 15 meeting, she and other businesspeople with whom she spoke are only aware of two foot patrols taking place. Burke said she does not expect patrols to happen every day but wondered why they are not proceeding with some regularity. Mayor George Fontaine said he in fact had an extensive conversation with the RCMP, who pledged to conduct a 'steady patrol.' 'So if it isn't happening, we will question that again as quickly as we can,' he said. 'They made us a promise that they were going to...make that public priority, to give the people of Flin Flon, when they go downtown in this area, a feeling that there's a safety there.'
