The mayor of Happy Valley-Goose Bay wants to see greater police enforcement to deal with public safety concerns stemming from an increase in violence and criminal activity in and around the Labrador town.
George Andrews says a rally put together after the Sand Bar Lounge burned to the ground drew some 300 people concerned about what’s happening in the area.
MHA Perry Trimper says it’s a complex issue which requires a multi-pronged approach, but acknowledges residents are fed up and no longer feel safe.
Andrews says it’s a serious public safety concern.
(Sand Bar fire via Facebook)
He points to a video that was recently sent to him.
“The video is of a group of people around what appears to be a female on the ground, and there’s a two-by-four being used and broken over that person.”
He says that type of activity is something people are not used to seeing, thinking “it happens in movies.”
Andrews says there’s a growing level of fear and angst in the community.
“Children can’t use the bike trails, seniors can’t walk from where their house is … up the bike trail to their kid’s house to have a cup of tea, back and forth to the Legion for bingo. People are afraid.”
He says he was also sent audio of a woman screaming in her bedroom from across the road.
“It’s intense. It’s disturbing.”
Andrews says the town is at a point where “people can’t take it any more,” adding more enforcement is needed purely from a public safety perspective.
