Surrey has a reputation of being Crime City. A simple Google search of ‘Surrey reputation’ can confirm this fact.
Although I love living here, I can’t deny the fact that Surrey has some serious problems with crime. It’s terrifying to hear that the rate of shootings has been going nowhere but up in recent years. We need to work harder on crime prevention, especially in our students. Obviously, our current strategy isn’t working.
Supt. Shawn Gill is right when he says that this issue involves the entire community. So why is no one doing anything about it? Crime seems to be a taboo topic, something nobody wants to talk about except to complain about how much there is of it, and the result of this has been evident and devastating.
Crime prevention is not something only the police should be involved in. There need to be more programs that give our youth a chance to get involved in the community. There need to be more conversations about this going on in our schools, at every level. There needs to be easier access to facilities that can offer help to people at risk of committing a crime.
Most importantly, however, there needs to be a shift in attitudes to crime in general.
It’s time to face our problems and conquer them. Surrey’s slogan is “the future lives here.”
It’s our job to ensure that the future won’t be a victim of a violent midnight shooting.
Diana Lee
Surrey