Fraser Heights Community Association

Update from Sergeant Mike Spencer,Guildford/Fleetwood Community Response Unit, RCMP.

I hope that everyone in Fraser Heights who I have come to know over the past couple of years are coping well during these trying times.

I have just finished going over the results of the March and April statistics for Fraser Heights, and I thought I would share the findings with you.  Please feel free to share them with anyone in Fraser Heights who might be interested in them.  I have tried to break them down to make sense to anyone reading them, while painting an accurate picture… without going into so much detail that people stop reading (a problem I often create!!)

I have also attached to this the Surrey RCMP’s 2019 Report to the Community, which was literally just released to the public today. (Note: this could not be attached, but if you are interested in a copy, please email: Surrey_Webmaster@rcmp-grc.gc.ca with the subject line: 2019 Report to the Community).
You can also make this document available to everyone in Fraser Heights, if you feel so inclined.

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As far as the statistics go for Fraser Heights over the full two calendar months of March & April, 2020, there was the following reported to the Surrey RCMP:

A total of two (2) Residential B&E’s were reported

• One was to an unoccupied new house under construction where the suspect was scared off by an alarm system and fled immediately after tripping it.  Nothing was stolen.  The other was a male who literally walked into an unlocked basement door during the evening, spoke to the person in the house, and then left.   It is unclear to the homeowner and the Surrey RCMP if this person was confused, suffering from mental issues, or actually looking to commit a crime in the house.  There was a time delay in this being reported to the RCMP and police were unable to locate and question the subject of complaint.

A total of four (4) Cars were reported stolen from Fraser Heights

• Two of these cars were stolen with keys – one of the sets of keys being found by the suspect when he broke into the car next to it in the same driveway.   Of the four stolen cars, two were recovered in Ridge Meadows, and another was recovered in Abbotsford.   The RCMP Forensic Unit located fingerprints in two of these vehicles upon recovery and the investigations for those are ongoing.  None of these cars had any anti-theft devices being used, other than the two that were stolen with keys – unfortunately the built-in anti-theft device in these cars are thwarted when the suspect is able to use the keys.

Continue Reading →

Fraser Heights Park Garden Initiative

Park Partnerships

May – November 2020

Purpose:             

The City of Surrey is seeking community members who would like the opportunity to use the self-watering garden plots at Fraser Heights Park for personal gardening.

Program details:

• There are 12 self-watering garden plots located between the tennis courts and the Fraser Heights Community Centre.
• 10 of these plots will be for individual gardening. We suggest that each family involved oversee 2 plots for personal gardening.
• 2 garden plots that will be for communal garden use with the intention of donation to the food bank. Each gardener will be responsible for contributing to the maintenance of the communal garden plots.
• Each gardener will sign a one-year agreement in order to garden.

Fees:

No fees will be collected for participation in the 2020 growing season.

Supplies:

• City of Surrey Parks will supply seeds, garden gloves, as well as a hose & water connection to the building.
• Gardeners will supply personal gardening tools and ongoing supplies for garden plot maintenance.

Interested? What do you need to do?

If you are interested in gardening at this site, please fill out the application form on the City of Surrey web page (in the Fraser Heights Park Community Garden Opportunity section):

https://www.surrey.ca/culture-recreation/7108.aspx and email it to partnersinparks@surrey.ca.  Because space is limited and to keep the process fair, the first 5 families to sign up will be given a spot at the garden.

The Fraser Heights Community Association is deferring its next general meeting.

The meeting was scheduled for:

Date:    May 6 2020
Time:    7:00 PM
Place:   Fraser Heights Secondary School Auditorium

Since meetings at the school in April or May have been cancelled, the Community Association meeting will have to be deferred until June or later at a date TBD.

An email notice will be sent out once a date has been determined.

Update from Sgt Mike Spencer of the RCMP:

Hello Fraser Heights,

I just wanted to take this opportunity to wish you all a Happy Holiday – and I hope that you are able to have a relaxing, enjoyable Christmas with friends and family.

It seems like it has been a while since our last ‘chat’ at the FHCA in September and I look forward to our next one in January.  In the meantime, I will leave you with some important information that will hopefully help everyone have a safe holiday, and beyond.

Although Fraser Heights has been relatively ‘quiet’ for the past little while (don’t worry, I’m knocking on wood), we have seen a couple of ‘annual’ trends in other parts of the city that could easily find their way into neighbourhoods like yours.

Evening Residential Break & Enters – literally only a couple, however another part of the city has seen this somewhat rare occurrence crop up.  We are obviously very alive to the fact that this is a rare M/O for Property Thieves to use and we are doing everything we can to keep our thumbs on the pulse of it.  Fraser Heights has been victimized in the past with these types of crimes, so I would encourage you to take all of the usual measures that I speak of regularly at our meetings.

Theft from Auto where the Garage Door Opener is targeted – this is a trend that has surfaced in a different part of the city, however given the previous problems that we have had with TFA’s in Fraser Heights, I think this would be an excellent time to remind everyone about how susceptible their vehicle is when it is left unattended – whether it’s in your driveway overnight, or in the parking lot of a mall… if you leave valuables in your vehicle, you are risking them being incentive to have your car broken into and these items (among others) stolen.   This is a crime of opportunity – so let’s spend valuable seconds each day to take away their opportunity !!

Continue Reading →

As you are probably aware, Rogers Communications applied to place cellular antennas in our community. After significant opposition was raised by the community and as was discussed at our September meeting, your executive followed up with the City of Surrey to confirm what next steps would be. We also followed up with Rogers, who to date has not replied.

Below is an email thread between the Fraser Heights Community Association and the City of Surrey. It is self explanatory regarding Rogers’ withdrawal of the proposal.

Thanks to all that participated. It is through action from our residents that your Community Association remains strong.

Sincerely,

Ed MacIntosh, President

Fraser Heights Community Association

From: “Neuman, Scott” <SNeuman@surrey.ca>

Subject: RE: Rogers Antenna Status: 157 Street @ 110 Avenue

Date: October 4, 2019 at 4:27:23 PM PDT

To: Edward MacIntosh

Cc: “Costanzo, Robert” <RACostanzo@surrey.ca>, FHCA Directors <Directors@fhca.ca>

Hi Ed

Thank you for reaching out to me. Continue Reading →

Below is an update received from Sgt Mike Spencer of the RCMP, who was at our last general meeting.

I know that we don’t have another FHCA meeting until the new year, so I’m hoping that you will help me reach out to the Fraser Heights residents with some information I would like to share with them.

For starters, there were a couple of questions that I had been asked at the September FHCA meeting that I was unable to answer at the time, and I would like to provide feedback to those.

Question #1) “Do we still experience problems with Marijuana Grow Operations in Fraser Heights?”

As I mentioned at the meeting, I was not personally aware of any ‘problems’ relating to Marijuana grow operations in Fraser Heights (acknowledging that it used to be a significant problem), however I inquired with our Crime Analysts and asked them to provide me with details regarding Grow Op complaints.

• According to the Crime Analyst I spoke to, we have not received a complaint regarding a Marijuana Grow Operation since 2016.

Question #2) “Can you speak to the “ten year” stats?”

Although I was not in a position to confidently speak accurately to the “10 year” stats (the statistics that detail the crime in the city over the past 10 years) while I was presenting at the meeting – but anyone who is interested can see the following:

• Overall crime (by volume) has been trending downward since 2014. Similarly, the overall crime rate has been trending down over the last decade, despite the increase experienced in 2014. In 2018, for the fourth consecutive year, crime overall (by both volume and rate) decreased from the year previous.
• The total number of Criminal Code offences in 2018 was below the 10-year average (6% lower). In fact, it is the lowest it has been in the last 10 years.
• The crime rate decreased 6% from the year previous, and 25% from 2014. The crime rate in 2018 was lower than the 10-year average (16% lower), and the lowest it has been in the last 10 years. It has decreased each year in the last decade (from the year previous), with the exception of the spike in 2014.
• Surrey’s Crime Severity Index (CSI) has been trending downward since 2009. The 2018 CSI value is down nearly 9% from the year previous and the lowest it has been in the last decade.
• The Violent Crime Severity Index has also been trending downward over the last 10 years, and despite a small upswing in 2015, reached a 10-year low in 2018. The Non Violent Crime Severity Index has also been trending downward over the last decade.

A detailed version of the ’10 year’ statistics can be found on the Surrey RCMP website at  http://surrey.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/ViewPage.action?siteNodeId=2202&languageId=1&contentId=61356

Also of note to Fraser Heights residents, there has been a significant decrease in the number of Theft From Autos over the past month.  In looking over the statistics for the entire City of Surrey, TFA’s continue to be a problem – predominantly around large malls, Skytrain stations, and dense neighbourhoods (all places where cars are routinely parked and left unoccupied).  HOWEVER, the Fraser Heights ‘only’ experienced four (4) of these incidents in the 28 day period commencing September 11th.   It seems obvious to me that our collective efforts are starting to pay off, the most important aspect being that residents are being more diligent than ever at ensuring their doors are locked and their valuables are removed from their vehicles when they are being left unoccupied – even (and especially) when they are parked in their driveway.

This is excellent news and I was actually hesitant to even share it out of fear that it may inadvertently or subconsciously cause some complacency.   Please do not entice these criminals back into your neighbourhood by making them believe that ‘business’ is good again in Fraser Heights.   REMAIN DILIGENT, NEVER ASSUME IT WON’T HAPPEN TO YOU, AND DON’T MAKE IT EASY FOR THEM 🙂

Thanks for caring,

Mike