Peace River council ponders future of security company [Video]

Peace River town council is considering the future of a pilot project aimed to address security concerns around homeless encampments.

Serious concerns about encampments in the community, particularly around the riverbank, increased downtown crime and issues with drug use were all among the many reasons the town decided to hire Apex Security to monitor the sites back in July.

“The town has seen that encampments have become fewer permanent structures, and some have been removed,” Mayor Elaine Manzer said, adding that Apex is constantly monitoring the encampments.

“Apex indicated it had dealt with encampments at least 99 times, had interactions with people to move them along, generally patrolled 24 hours per day,” she added.

“Apex noted and reported to town administration that two or three properties that are the sites of many complaints and issues, that the same few individuals are often the source of several interactions per day.”

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