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College Park Conversation Cafe draws big crowd

Jul 12, 2018 | 6:05 PM

One estimate says close to 40 people turned out for a meeting between residents, law enforcement, and Crime Prevention Wednesday night at Maddhatter’s.
 
The Conversation Cafe series usually draws a much smaller crowd, but many in the College Park area are worried about crime.
 
Constable Melanie McIntosh says a lot of those worries are centred around the Parkside Inn.
 
“We will continue to respond to all reports of criminal activity in Grande Prairie, including the Parkside. We encourage people to report  anything suspicious or any activity that they see at all times because that enables us to respond appropriately.”
 
She adds report criminals to the police is the best way to do something about crime.
 
“So that we’re aware of what’s going on. Vigilantism is certainly not encouraged because it can lead to escalating the situation. It can lead to harming either yourself or somebody you’re with.”
 
McIntosh says to include as much information as they can in these reports.
 
“It is so important that if you have had any property stolen that you report it to us so that we have that record on file and if we encounter your property somewhere, then we can charge appropriately. We need to have as many identifying features about your property as possible. Serial numbers are the best way to identify your property, but anything unique, any custom work, anything like that needs to be reported to us so we can identify it.”
 
Community people have suggested there is a chop shop for stolen bicycles operating out of the Parkside Inn. One resident tells Everything Grande Prairie that three people, one woman, and two men, were seen taking bikes apart. They were identified and reported to the RCMP.
 

– with files from Sheena Roszell.