Need a criminal record check? Looking to report stolen property? Burnaby residents are now able to tackle these and other police-related tasks on Saturdays thanks to a new pilot program that launched Aug. 3. The City of Burnaby and the Burnaby RCMP are embarking on a three-month pilot project that will see two of the city's four community police offices open on Saturdays.
The southwest office at 4501 Kingsborough St. and the Hastings-Brentwood office at 104-4191 Hastings St. are now open Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. People can visit the offices for a variety of services, including criminal record checks, non-emergency police reports, police certificate applications, crime prevention information, speed watch requests and formal complaints, among others.
This isn't the first time the city and RCMP have tried to open the community offices for weekend hours. A few years back, they ran a similar pilot project, which had all four community police offices open on Saturdays, but it wasn't successful, and the extra day was scrapped, according to Staff Sgt. Major John Buis.
"The statistics didn't warrant it last time," he said. This time around, however, the city and the RCMP have decided to open only two of the four offices to see if that will appeal to Burnaby residents.
