SAFETY TEAM ROLLS OUT INTO A BUSY SUMMER

Four crack pipes and 28 needles found on their first week of the
job.

It could be a busy season for the Summer Safety Patrol.

The all-girl quartet was introduced to the local media this week, the
ninth straight year the summer safety patrol, under the wings of the
Vernon RCMP Safe Communities Unit, will be rolling throughout the
streets of Vernon.

"The safety patrol has been active since June 1 and they were all in
training the week before that," said Rachael Neuhaus, office
co-ordinator for the community policing office, of the patrol team,
which includes one patrol member from last year - Stephanie Stewart -
and first-timers Kit Marsden, Alysha Hardy and Lauren Lamb.

So far, the girls have made contact with 667 adults, mainly at events
like Creative Chaos and the seniors symposium, as well as 65
street-level members of the community.

"They've been very active in meeting the community, they've also made
contact with 35 youth and 60 children," said Neuhaus.

Besides keeping the streets clean by removing found needles and other
drug paraphernalia, the safety patrol will be watching for such things
as making sure all cyclists - adults included - are wearing helmets.

"We have Operation Chill, which is offering the reward of a slurpee
whenever we see someone riding with their helmet," said Neuhaus. "So
far, we've only seen 10 adults wearing their helmets, and that's a
significant problem we'll be addressing."

The safety patrol will be active Tuesday to Saturday, working in two
teams, from 7:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. until mid-August.

While it's their ninth year of serving the community, the patrol did
lose one member to another area of community concern.

A new anti-tag team, consisting of Jessica Vlasveld and Jamie Dillon,
will have the summer duty of identifying and removing tagging and
graffiti, and liaise with the business community over such events.

On the job since May 29, not including weekends, Vlasveld and Dillon
have been busy.

"They have identified 216 tags, mainly in the downtown core," said
Neuhaus. "That's phenomenal."

When the team identifies a tag, they send out a package to the
business and the property owner, which includes a permission form to
paint over the tags.

The team has sent 24 letter to business or property owners about the
tags, which are little logos found on downtown property, including
benches, as opposed to full-blown graffiti.

A number of businesses have already responded to the team's request,
while two people removed tags themselves.

The Anti-Tag Team will be working Monday to Friday from 7:30 a.m. to
3:30 p.m.

Both teams are funded by the City of Vernon.