Deputy mayor in North Bay wants city police to talk to residents about crime and ways to stay safe
Tuesday evening is one night Marie Darnell never wants to relive.
Darnell told CTV News three men tried to break into her home, located in the city’s downtown.
“I could hear my door being pushed in, but it doesn’t sit flush so I could hear it being kicked in and shoved and my doorknob felt like it was being ripped off,” she said.
Darnell said she had to set off her car alarm before the would-be intruder finally left. She said she made eye contact with one of them, but that didn’t scare him off.
“I grew up in North Bay and you could literally leave your door unlocked,” she said. “We moved here in January and I just don’t feel safe.”
Darnell isn’t the only North Bay resident who is scared. Deputy Mayor Tanya Vrebosch said she often hears from people who don’t feel safe.
“The landscape has changed over the last five years, and we all know that,” said Vrebosch.
“I make sure I’m aware of my surroundings. But I don’t just do that in North Bay, I do that anywhere I would go. I think people need to be aware of their surroundings anywhere they go.”
“Is North Bay safe? I think it’s as safe as any other community,” she added.
Now Vrebosch is calling on the North Bay Police Service to do a better job communicating with the community.
“We are seeing stuff, and we’re hearing more then we ever have before," she said. "Just talk to us a little bit more, talk to us about safety, about what you’re doing and give the community a little bit more comfort.”
Insp. Jeff Warner with the North Bay police said they have implemented some new initiatives.
“We’ve got the community response unit that we implemented in January,” Warner said. “Whatever the need of the community, that’s who's used to specifically target those areas. (We're) hoping to identify and deter some of this behaviour that’s going on.”
For her part, Darnell is asking for more police presence downtown.
“Hire more police officers -- our city desperately needs more police officers,” she said.
Warner said this year is one of the busiest in terms of the number of incidents that he has seen in his 20-year career with the North Bay police.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
More than 115 cases of eye damage reported in Ontario after solar eclipse
More than 115 people who viewed the solar eclipse in Ontario earlier this month experienced eye damage after the event, according to eye doctors in the province.
B.C. seeks ban on public drug use, dialing back decriminalization
The B.C. NDP has asked the federal government to recriminalize public drug use, marking a major shift in the province's approach to addressing the deadly overdose crisis.
Last letters of pioneering climber who died on Everest reveal dark side of mountaineering
George Mallory is renowned for being one of the first British mountaineers to attempt to scale the dizzying heights of Mount Everest during the 1920s. Nearly a century later, newly digitized letters shed light on Mallory’s hopes and fears about ascending Everest.
Orca calf that was trapped in B.C. lagoon for weeks swims free
An orca whale calf that has been stranded in a B.C. lagoon for weeks after her pregnant mother died swam out on her own early Friday morning.
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau on navigating post-political life, co-parenting and freedom
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau says there is 'still so much love' between her and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as they navigate their post-separation relationship co-parenting their three children.
'I was scared': Ontario man's car repossessed after missing two repair loan payments
An Ontario man who took out a loan to pay for auto repairs said his car was repossessed after he missed two payments.
Powerful tornado tears across Nebraska, weather service warns of 'catastrophic' damage
Devastating tornadoes tore across parts of eastern Nebraska and northeast Texas Friday as a multi-day severe thunderstorm event ramped up in the central United States.
Toxic testing standoff: Family leaves house over air quality
A Sherwood Park family says their new house is uninhabitable. The McNaughton's say they were forced to leave the house after living there for only a week because contaminants inside made it difficult to breathe.
Trump's lawyers try to discredit testimony of prosecution's first witness in hush money trial
Donald Trump's defence team attacked the credibility Friday of the prosecution's first witness in his hush money case, seeking to discredit testimony detailing a scheme between Trump and a tabloid to bury negative stories to protect the Republican's 2016 presidential campaign.