The City of Kamloops says a group aimed at reducing crime on West Victoria Street has made good strides through the summer.

The Victoria Street West Community Dialogue Group (CDG) was formed in early July. It includes 16 members: five businesses from that corridor, representatives from the Canadian Mental Health Association, ASK Wellness, The Mustard Seed, BC Housing, Interior Health, Kamloops RCMP, the Kamloops Aboriginal Friendship Society, as well as three City of Kamloop staff members and a representative from Tk’emlúps te Secwepemc.

“I think there’s been a noticeable decrease in vandalism, loitering and theft. And I think that we will continue to progress in a constructive way. But I don’t expect it to happen quickly, as it rarely happens fast with social challenges like these,” social and community development supervisor Ty Helgason says.

“We’ve introduced a system for identifying loiterers from people who are actually accessing the services. BC Housing has come to the table with 24-hour security patrolling the corridor. RCMP has increased their high-visibility foot patrols and collaborative patrols with bylaws.”

He adds that two agencies have hired outreach workers as well.

As for whether the new positions hired by the social agencies on that corridor are permanent, Helgason says that depends on whether funding is available for them.

The dialogue group will meet again in September and October. Helgason says the goal is to keep the group in the same form or in a similar form past October.

It’s unclear which five local businesses on West Victoria are at the table as part of the dialogue group.

NL News has a copy of the terms of reference of the group, created by the city, which bans those members from speaking to media on behalf of the dialogue group.

The terms of reference go on to say, “this is not meant to fetter the ability of any CDG member to speak with the media as a private citizen,” and the terms say that the city can revoke a person’s membership in the group if they don’t follow the terms.

Several frustrated business owners have repeatedly spoken to NL News with their concerns of crime in recent months, and the city eventuall created a working group with area businesses.