If you have any burning questions you’d like to ask of Victoria’s police department, now is your chance to do so.
VicPD is inviting the public to an open house at the department’s headquarters Monday evening (Jan. 15). Residents will have a chance to speak to VicPD watch commanders about what is going on in the community and ask questions about how police work is done. There will be four events this year run as pilot, one held by each watch commander.
Chief Const. Del Manak said instead of the public hearing solely from him, this event offers access to officers who play a key role in the policing of Victoria neighbourhoods every day.
“I wholeheartedly believe in making sure that we are responsive to the community’s needs, that we know what the community wants from us, that we are relevant,” he said. ” And that there is clear communication that is unfiltered and comes back to our staff and our officers about how we’re doing.”
A reminder invite from Chief Del Manak for Monday’s #watchcommandersopenhouse Come have a ☕️ and learn how a Patrol watch works to keep your community safe. #yyj pic.twitter.com/y9Gp12hjwo
— Victoria Police (@vicpdcanada) January 12, 2018
Manak said he hopes the public will see the police as being responsive and listening to their concerns, and that this event shows they care about what they think.
Watch commanders will be able to provide first-hand answers about what resources the police use, how they are deployed, how the public can prevent themselves from being victimized and how to deter crime.
Manak said he got the idea for the open houses from the Las Vegas Metro Police Department’s “First Tuesday” events, which give the public similar access to front-line police.