Kingston RCMP urges pubic to play a part in catching vandals

BY NANCY KELLY

Kings County Register

The new supervisor at Kingston’s RCMP detachment says officers can’t respond to complaints of vandalism or other acts of nuisance - unless the public makes the effort to report problems in the village.

Corporal Dan Dionne attended the June 11 meeting of the Kingston Village Commission at its request. The village has been plagued with recent and ongoing acts of vandalism that “are adding up and costing taxpayers,” and commission chairman Steve Nickerson expressed hope the RCMP could offer some suggestions to stem the “significant problems experienced recently at Stronach Park and the sewer treatment plant.” “The best advice I can offer is to continue to call,” said Dionne, new to the detachment. “Without a formal complaint, we don’t know to investigate.” He said alerting police - regardless of the time of day, helps officers gather evidence that can establish patterns of vandals which can be the key to making arrests. “We are a call-driven agency and it all comes down to the complaint and the information we receive. If we can’t prove the allegations, then it becomes ‘don’t do it again’‚ over and over and over,” acknowledged Dionne.

The Kingston detachment, which currently has a full complement of12 officers, is manned 20 hours per day. An on-call officer is designated during the remaining four hours to respond to calls of an urgent nature, and coverage is also provided by staff at the New Minas RCMP detachment, which operates on a 24/7 basis. Dionne explained Kingston’s detachment functions on a new shift schedule that “on any given day, has two (officers) working on day and night shifts.” Members service territory east of Berwick to the Annapolis County line, and from the Fundy shore to East Dalhousie.

Nickerson appreciates the detachment has a large territory, but stressed the commission would like to see enhanced patrolling of trouble spots in the village. Dionne responded officers have not been seeing large groups gathering in Stronach Park, but added “it’s all about timing.” In order to curb vandalism at the park, Dionne said it may be necessary to start enforcing a no-tolerance rule about use of the park after dusk. “We may have to start saying ‘it’s dusk, and you have to get out’‚ to get a handle on this problem.”

In order to maximize the detachment’s patrolling efforts, Dionne has plans to get officers out into the community on ATVs and bicycles.