What's Happening in Surrey, BC…

The number of undercover police officers trained under a new city program to report suspicious crimes is set to increase.

Printing companies in the Surrey, BC area and surrounding places like Westminster, BC may find themselves busy in the next few months, while the Canadian Union of Public Employees spends approximately $1,500 in printing costs to send out information leaflets and decals for city vehicles. Local printing companies could become involved in the initiative by advertising the program to the general public and also publishing training materials for the program.

The city of Surrey plans to train over 2,000 city workers to report suspicious activities and how to detect potentially illegal behaviour. Among some of the topics to be covered include how to record car or suspect descriptions, how to recognize drug deals and how to recognize forced entries and possible burglaries. The employees will be trained by local police and fire officials. The crime prevention strategy is expected to be the latest police-public partnership, similar to existing programs such as Reality Block, Block Watch and Crime-Free Multi Housing.

Local programs provide great opportunity for local printing companies to become involved in providing publishing services for community programs. In addition to leaflet printings, brochure printings and business card printings are two other printing services that printing companies in cities like Surrey and Westminster can offer. More than 23 other communities across Canada have similar City Watch programs, run by city workers to help keep communities safer, with printers helping to promote community safety.