Numerous residents came out to speak to RCMP at a community forum held in Riverview.
One of the common themes from residents was a lack of police presence.
Resident Jean-Paul Doiron claimed it took officers 90 minutes to respond to their call one night
“A couple of weeks ago, my spouse was home alone. Somebody was knocking on the windows. I left Caledonia Park, drove to Point Park, drove around the neighbourhood for about an hour, then I went all back to work before I met a cop car.” Doiron told Codiac RCMP Supt. Benoit Jolette.
“You see them go up and down Hillsborough Road, cover the other roads, like the main drag. You don’t see them in the subdivisions.”
Jolette said there are roughly 45,000 calls for service for all three communities.
“I totally agree with you that we can do better. Riverview is not the only issue. It’s three communities, because there are thousands of streets in all three communities, and we need to do better to have that visual presence to be going on these streets,” he said.
“But there are times when you’re in bed, watching the hockey game, doing the dishes where we’re driving by. We can’t be on every street, 24 hours a day, guaranteed, but we can always do better in that.”
Resident Samuel Acker also raised his concerns. He says their home has been broken into twice since 1996, but he feels there needs to be more officers patrolling the town.
“I’ll see a cop driving on the square, either Trites, Whitepine, Pine Glen or Coverdale, but that’s all you see them. You don’t see them anywhere on the side streets. We know that criminals are not going to try to do stuff on the Main Streets because everybody drives by,” said Acker.
“We really need enforcement in the suburbs, where they know they can hide places with woodlines behind them. I think everyone is asking for it, but we’re not seeing any results.”
Other issues raised during the two-hour community forum held on Thursday night included drug use, feeling unsafe and unprotected and speeding on town streets.
Some residents stated they just don’t feel safe in their homes or communities anymore.
Another startling statistic brought forth during the forum was the number of injury collisions and fatalities.
According to the statistics from Codiac RCMP, there were 69 in 2023, and that has risen to 97 in 2024, between the months of January and September.
“It seems that every day there’s a report of a fatal collision in New Brunswick, not necessarily in our area. So that could be attributed to plenty of things, distracted driving, individuals who are driving too quickly or not obeying traffic signals,” said Jolette.
“I believe that residents of Riverview that is a serious concern. People are driving too fast and dangerously in our neighbourhoods. It’s the same thing in all three communities.”
The superintendent also told each resident who got up to speak that he would follow up on each of their stories and investigate them further.
He also stressed the need for residents to report any incidents of crime to the RCMP.
If you missed the Town of Riverview RCMP community forum, you can view it on the town’s website.
