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OUR VIEW: Surrey on pace for 60 shootings this year despite 100 new officers

Surrey received 100 new officers after 56 shootings in 2015. Did the shootings stop? Nope. So far this year, there have been 15.
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Police officers at the scene of a call of shots fired in 2015. The startling number of shootings on Surrey and Delta streets last year was chosen as the top story of 2015. And the city is on pace to record even more this year.

Those who were sure that putting more RCMP “boots on the ground” would be a panacea to Surrey’s street violence should be getting a rude wake-up kick right about now.

Last year, the city recorded 56 shootings, mostly of the drive-by variety and many of them connected to a dial-a-dope turf war unfolding in Surrey and North Delta.

SEE ALSO: The startling number of shootings on Surrey and Delta streets in 2015 was chosen as the top story of the year.

Hands were wrung, political speeches were spoken and promises were made to bolster the Surrey RCMP’s Mountie contingent by 100 new officers. Presumably, nerves were settled.

Did the shootings stop? Nope. So far this year, there have been 15 shootings.

The last one, at least at this time of writing, happened last Friday night in Panorama Ridge, in the area of 128th Street and 56th Avenue. Police reported that no victims were located.

If this pace continues, we can expect 60 shootings in 2016 — more than last year — despite having 100 more cops here.

Surrey RCMP brass, and local politicians, must be tearing their hair out. So what’s the solution?

Anyone?

The Now