Police hope to increase visibility downtown with new 'jump station'

The Sault Ste Marie Police Service are aiming at increasing their presence in the downtown when they opened the doors of their new 'Jump Station' located at Station Mall. 

"Members of the community will see us coming and going," said Sault Ste Marie Police Chief Hugh Stevenson who addressed a small crowd at the Jump Station Thursday morning. "The vision is quite simple, it's accessibilty and visiblity of police resources."

The office will house full time staff and also be used for officers to file reports, morning executive meetings, as well as the home of the bike patrol and Crime Stoppers volunteer patrol. 

"It's an absolute beautiful area of the city to live, work, and play," said Stevenson. "Let's have our people come here and work out from here and the public will see us. But, there is others that will see us as well. Those who tend to do their trade down in this area of the city are going to realize we're taking this area back. We're more present than we've ever been."

The new office also provided an opportunity for a partnership with The Crime Stoppers community intitative, consisting of post-secondary student volunteers from Sault College and Gates College patrolling the downtown will use the new Jump Station as a home base. "They are a visibility, they are the eyes and ears," said Crime Stoppers chair Tom Burmaster. "They do not get into conversations, they do not get into confrontations; their role is to take notes, to observe what is going on and if they deem it necessary they call the police department."