RCMP aim to curb naughty behaviour at Wreck Beach
Posted May 12, 2014 11:09 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – The RCMP are setting up a permanent tent on Wreck Beach this summer, to help curb drug overdoses and open-air sexual behaviour.
But what will that do to the beach’s reputation?
The RCMP say they’re beefing up their presence to combat sexual behaviour outdoors along with drug overdoses, with an average of around three calls a week requiring their attention last summer.
But Judy Williams with the Wreck Beach Preservation Society says it’s overkill.
“Overt sexual activity my foot, that’s the first time I’ve heard that accusation,” says Williams, who has been coming to the beach regularly since 1969.
“The implication, the non-verbal communication that people will get, is that we’re an unsafe place and that’s just not so. And there isn’t overt sexual behaviour, I don’t know what the hell they’re talking about, excuse me.”
Williams says she feels safer at Wreck Beach than any of the other Vancouver area beaches and says regulars there are like family, looking out for everyone on the beach.
She adds the society has spoken with the RCMP about the tent.
“We’ve been trying to talk them out of this tent. We’ve been trying to convince them that Wreck Beach is safer than any of your other Lower Mainland Beaches. So to say we’re unsafe is just absolutely, outrageously incorrect.”
The RCMP say they just want to let people know what’s acceptable.
