Host Team Has Positive Effect
Prince George, B.C.-The Downtown Host Team initiative will soon wrap up, and by all accounts, it has proven to be a success.
Anthony Dalzell of Tourism PG, Kim Trudeau of AWAC, and Jesse Martens of Paladin Security-photo courtesy City of PG
This pilot project, which started July 10th, has folks in high-viz vests walking through the core of the City, interacting with local residents, businesses, workers, visitors and the disadvantaged.
Made possible through a partnership involving the City, Tourism Prince George, BC Housing, and the Association for Advocating for Women and Children (AWAC), the initiative’s goal was to foster a safe, positive atmosphere for everyone in the City’s downtown.
Although the effectiveness of the program won’t be fully reviewed until mid September, the City’s Manager of Social Planning, Chris Bone, says the “ambassadors” have been collecting information since they started their work in the downtown over a month ago “We have quantitative stats the team has been collecting on a daily basis. It’s collecting information about how many tourists enquiries, what’s the nature of the enquiry, what services are you connecting people with, such as housing, health, food services, and just keeping track of the number of incidents that security personnel may have either de-escalate or refer to the RCMP.”
Bone says they are also doing a bi-weekly teleconference with the organizing partners for feedback, which, so far, has been positive “We’re hearing good feedback from businesses, they are happy to see the team downtown and the team has been endeavouring to drop in and introduce themselves, which has been very well received by business owners. I know our partner outreach team (AWAC) says it’s a great way for them to continue to build relationships with their clients and also with people who may not be aware of the services that are available to them in the downtown.”
Each “ambassador” underwent training for that included non-violent intervention skills, tourism resources and referrals and protocols for contacting the RCMP. AWAC provides its own workers, as does Tourism Prince George, the City provided $15 thousand dollars for the security personnel.
The pilot project wraps up September 10th. The program will be reviewed this fall to see if it should be reinstated next year.
Comments
In Kamloops the “downtown ambassadors” program has a similar purpose.
It is hosted by the merchants of Downtown Kamloops. They have a direct interest in such a program and would likely be better judges of its success rather than City Administration and Council.
If it is not successful for them, I am sure they would stop funding it or ensure that it is adjusted so that it will be a success for their purposes.
I am wondering why the City of Prince George decided to take a what appears to be a different approach.
downtownvancouver, the DVBIA funds the program though its membership fees. It has contracted the service out to Securiguard, a private security firm.
The DVBIA is responsible for program development, supervision of policy and procedures. Securiguard is responsible for hiring, basic security, training and managing personnel.
SOME STATISTICS from Vancouver
During the summer months, the Downtown Ambassadors® interact with over 90,000 visitors and make over 25,000 business referrals within the DVBIA area.
Each month Downtown Ambassadors® conduct 4,000-5,000 patrols of parkades looking for stolen autos, report crimes in progress or crimes that have occurred, help tourists or locals in need of assistance. Ambassadors recover numerous stolen autos each year.
The Ambassadors assist the Vancouver Police Department by alerting the police to suspicious activity or crimes that have already occurred or that may occur and recovering stolen property.
Downtown Ambassadors check on the welfare of street involved people between 50-150 times per month. They direct homeless people to resources and shelters and provide snacks. They provide warm clothing in the winter and hydration during hot weather.
Each month Ambassadors conduct about 4000 ‘Meet and Greets’ with downtown business owners and managers. This includes providing information packages about the DVBIA and Ambassadors to new businesses and doing ‘check-ins’ with all businesses on a regular basis.
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