Photo by Curtis Galbraith.

By Curtis Galbraith

City Hall

“When did we stop caring about each other?” Grande Prairie man takes concerns about downtown crime to city council

Aug 10, 2022 | 6:00 AM

A Grande Prairie man shared his personal experience with crime at the Grande Prairie City Council meeting Monday.

Marc Tyler says his partner, who has her own business at the Grande Prairie Farmer’s Market, has been accosted nine times in just over a year, including verbally and physically.

“Just recently, we had another altercation at her shop with somebody coming in and being abusive, not moving away. She asked them to leave. They didn’t. They started threatening her.”

“I had the same thing just over a week ago. I had four young individuals on BMX bikes who accosted me at 5:30 in the morning (and) demanded money from me.”

Tyler says the four threatened to damage his vehicle when he did not give them any money.

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He feels Grande Prairie has lost its way when it comes to dealing with what is important.

“I think we concentrate a little bit more on the higher, corporate end of stuff and (are) not addressing what is going on downtown.”

“We can spend all the money in the world building nice flower beds and streets for our people to walk on but there is no point in building a street to walk on if it is not safe to walk on.”

Tyler praised the work of the RCMP and Mobile Outreach Unit during his presentation, saying of the police that they do “a phenomenal job” in trying to help people.

He says boosting the Mobile Outreach Unit plus a new security unit coming this month should help.

“But the most important thing I think is when did we stop caring about each other? It’s only going to come together if we all work together for a solution.”

“If we’re not going to do anything, then we are going to be walking away from somewhere and we don’t know where we are going. The bigger the city, the more crime comes with it.”

Tyler says he did feel supported by council but is worried someone is going to get hurt and that people will not want to come here if it is easy for others to get high and become violent. He adds he has seen this as he has lost a family member to drugs.

The Grande Prairie Farmers Market has organized what it is calling a Safer Downtown for GP Meeting. It is set for 7 pm Monday at the Farmers Market.

We will hear from the city Thursday about a new security team due to be out working this month, a policing review, and more.