Dalhousie and the Halifax Regional Police have a designated police patrol for the neighborhoods near Dalhousie and the University of King's College. Called Operation Fallback, Halifax Regional Police runs the patrols Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays evenings throughout the month of September. In October, the patrols continue with Dalhousie footing the bill. (The patrol car will also be in the neighbourhood on Munro Day and St. Patrick's Day.)
As students arrived on campus for the fall term, student writer Michelle Hampson asked students for their opinion on the police patrols.
| I think it’s great. It’s really comforting because I’m a first-year student. I was really happy to hear that. Moving to a new place, it’s nice. - Olivia McGinn, 18, first-year theatre student | ||
| It’s probably a good thing. Why not? Better safe than sorry. - Jamie Charlebois, 25, Master'ss of Development Economics | ||
| If I don’t cause them trouble, they don’t cause me trouble. - Fahad Kabir, 22, fifth year, History and Political Science, combined honours | ||
| I think it’s great. I like to see some kind of enforcement around. Some people view it negatively like, “OK they’re just trying to bust out and ruin our parties.” But I think it’s more of a safety issue because when people are out partying, it is more likely to happen on those nights, so to have the extra help there to watch over it, I think it’s a good thing to have them around. - Tim Hiltz, 23, fourth-year kinesiology | ||
| That’s a good thing as far as I’m concerned. - Jen Kelly, 29, doing her Phd in marine biology | ||
| I just moved here, so I don’t really know. I think it’s safer. - Ainsa Hepburn, 18, second year arts student | ||
| It’s a good idea. I mean I know there are people around in the south-end area who were worried about break-ins to womens’ apartments and stuff last year. - Jordan Leblanc, 22
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| Dal Security does its best by enforcing order on the weekends that it’s working, but it can be more beneficial to the students if it [the heavier security] is expanded throughout the week. - Ali Baker, 20, fourth year student in Business Management |
Join the discussion. What do you think about Operation Fallback?