![]() ![]() There was a 29 per cent decrease in business break and enters in Newton in 2016, said Aguirre. Police join the patrols from time to time, in addition to participating in a weekly safety meeting that brings various community stakeholders together to share information and devise crime reduction strategies. The BIA has contracted Commissionaires, a private not-for-profit security company, to continue the daily security patrols. The RCMP began 24-hour patrols in Newton after Paskall was attacked, but eventually scaled them back. The Newton Business Improvement Association is also frustrated by the lack of development, but that hasn’t stopped the organization from initiating several projects aimed at revitalizing the community and reducing crime, said director Philip Aguirre.įormed a few months after Paskall’s death, the BIA runs a used-needle program, removes graffiti and garbage, collects shopping carts, runs a bike registry, conducts its own annual homeless count and organizes youth safety walks, taking teens from the local high school on tours to engage them in the community and listen to their ideas on making it safer. âThe goal is to create relationships with people on the streets and connect them with housing or other services, instead of displacing them,â says Green. The firm has conducted security patrols in Newton since the December 2013 fatal attack on Julie Paskall. Article content Molly Green (in the foreground) is site supervisor for Commissionaires, a private not-for-profit security company. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Electric rail line and King George Boulevard, Newton sprawls from roughly 120th Street on the west to 152nd Street on the east, and Colebrook Road on the south to 88th Avenue on the north. Surrey is often called a “city of cities,” containing six distinct communities, including Newton, in a land mass larger than Vancouver, Richmond and Burnaby combined. Aguirre calls crime âthe elephant in the room, and we decided to tackle it head-on.â Photo by Arlen Redekop / PNG We want our community to be a community.” Philip Aguirre, director of the Newton Business Improvement Association, with Commissionaires site supervisor Molly Green in Newton recently. “The roots of the grove run through Surrey, not just Newton, and we all need to care about our community. “Surrey is a big city, but we’re all connected,” she said. She imagines the roots of her mother’s tree in Holland Park woven with those from the grove. Rhiannon often thinks about the cedar trees in the grove and the way their roots travel unseen through the earth. “I think we are a much more resilient community than we were three years ago,” said Dalley. Violent crimes didn’t decrease until 2016, when there was a 15 per cent drop. Photo by Arlen Redekop / PNGīut police statistics show that despite those efforts, violent crimes in Newton rose eight per cent in 2014 and 28 per cent in 2015, due in part to a series of gang-related shootings. Rhiannon Paskall stands in The Grove, a small, wooded area behind the Newton transit exchange, a short distance from the parking lot where her mother Julie was fatally attacked in December 2013. ![]() In the months that followed, several community groups formed to address safety issues and the RCMP increased patrols in the area. The attack caused a significant public outcry over crime in Surrey’s most populous neighbourhood. The hockey mom has also become part of Newton’s story. “She’s a part of everything I do,” said Rhiannon. The couple is planning a tea party for their wedding reception later this year. Rhiannon and her fiancé, Jonah, often visit Holland Park, near the Paskall home in Surrey City Centre, where a tree was planted in her mother’s honour. Three years later, Rhiannon still wonders, “Why didn’t he just ask for her purse?” Manage Print Subscription / Tax Receipt.Westcoast Homes & Design Previous Issues.Vancouver Sun Run: Sign up & event info. ![]()
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