Every day, RCMP Cst. Carl Garlinski and Cst. Ryan Camping of the Transit Police hit the pavement around Surrey Central, a main transportation hub and shopping district in Surrey, B.C.
"We get out of our police car and we get out on foot," says Camping. "It allows us to interact as much as we can, so we do a lot of walking."
They walk the beat around the businesses talking to the local merchants, commuters and patrons, but they're always listening and looking out for issues in the area.
"We're also listening to patrol because if there's a call coming our way, whether it be a robbery suspect, anything, we're there to help," says Camping.
This is part of a new Joint Force Operation project, which started in January, to ensure a visible police presence at the city's main transit hub.
Surrey Central has a SkyTrain station, bus loop, mall, university, recreation centre and library. Much like any high traffic area with many amenities, there's a propensity for crime and disruption.
"Our goal is to deter violence, raise public confidence and perception, reduce calls for service and ensure the livability of Surrey," says Garlinski. "We just identify issues and tackle them and get a lot of feedback from the community."
The team enforces disorder and disruption, but also focuses on proactive policing and community engagement.
Based on feedback from clients, which Garlinski and Camping collect and document, they create initiatives to target the issues identified. These include open liquor offences, loitering, drug use and dealing, transit fare evasion and shoplifting.
"We find those smaller things tend to negatively affect the perception of Surrey or the state of the neighbourhood," says Garlinksi.
While the Transit Police would police around the transit stations in Surrey and the RCMP would police all of Surrey, the joint force helps create more seamless communication between the two departments as they focus on the transit corridor throughout Surrey.
And they don't do it alone. When they started, Garlinski and Camping solicited the help of several partners in the area, including municipal bylaw services and the Surrey Crime Prevention and Outreach Society, to patrol with them on specific initiatives.
"If it was all on our shoulders it would be next to impossible," says Camping. "There are a lot of different agencies that we need help from to make this thing fly and we're all working well together."
And based on the positive feedback they collect on patrol, people feel safer with them in the area, which is a win for Garlinski and Camping.
"People are happy to see us there," says Garlinski. "So if they do have a problem, they can walk up to us, they can call us and we're already there. It's reduced our response time to public complaints."