This camp created by homeless people on the lawn of the Margo Fournier Centre has been removed. (Nigel Maxwell/paNOW Staff)

By Susan McNeil

Downtown security

Downtown security trial going well says PADBID

Jul 28, 2022 | 6:00 PM

The downtown business group is one month into a trial run of having private security monitor the area and says it is going well.

PADBID executive director, Rhonda Trusty, said that business owners said it is working.

“It’s going quite well. We’ve received a fair amount of positive feedback from the business community,” said Trusty. “I think it’s been a very good shift for the downtown to have participated in this three month project.

PADBID had some extra money from running fewer events during the pandemic and decided to use it to hire private security to work with a growing homeless population in the city.

While not isolated to only the downtown core, many homeless people congregate there and had gone so far as setting up a campsite on the lawn of the Margo Fournier Centre.

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The camp has now been removed and has not been re-established. Trusty said that security officers also spoke to the people in the encampment to try to help them access support services.

“We have from the very beginning reminded people that this is a positive thing,” she said.

Prince Albert Security Services has been hired to provide two officers five days each week that have the job of reducing the amount of loitering and vagrancy in the BID area by asking people to move on.

There is more than business in the PADBID’s area, Trusty pointed out, including four daycares, a school and senior’s complexes.

“Our focus is just in trying to provide an environment for the little people and our seniors to have a safe environment in which to explore the downtown,” she said.

They are collecting data from the trial run and will use it to determine whether the program is worthy of continuation.

At that point they will take their information along with a request for some support to city council.

The BID has worked with both the Prince Albert police and city hall in setting up the project.

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susan.mcneil@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @princealbertnow