Photo: Oliver Daily News

Oliver resident Michael Guthrie talking at Monday's council meeting, walking back to the podium after handing council two petitions.

An Oliver couple who organized a forum on crime late last month brought two petitions with requests to town council on Monday evening.

The petitions, presented by Michael Guthrie and Shirley Zelinski, call for more pressure to have two new RCMP officers added to the town's detachment — which the town is on a long wait list to receive — and for closed-circuit cameras to be installed in areas around town.

The couple went door-to-door gathering signatures and made them available at the crime forum on Aug. 28, which hundreds of people in the community attended.

Guthrie and Zelinski said the petitions will also be brought to MLA Linda Larson.

"If we have a push at all, it is with those two officers and the time that our officers are drawing away from their duties that would be in the municipality," Zelinski told council, referencing policing time spent at the new jail north of Oliver.

She added there's value to cameras as well, and noted she has installed many around her home this year. She claimed that 90-95 per cent of crime in the town is related to addiction issues, and said particularly there's a corner house by South Okanagan Secondary School where drug-fuelled crime seems to be constant, and said cameras near there could be helpful.

The couple began rallying to deal with crime late in the spring after being victims of property crime. Guthrie said in the past three months, he's found there's a fear particularly among older residents, mainly with regards to the security of their property.

Oliver Mayor Ron Hovanes thanked the couple for their efforts and said the engagement they've created in the community, particularly with the crime forum, has been productive.

Hovanes noted that, at last week's UBCM in Whistler, there's no "silver bullet" to fix issues of crime, addiction and homelessness, which he said one Kelowna city councillor claimed has been 20 years in the making.

“There has to be serious treatment opportunities for people when they want to get out of this addictive cycle… because right now a lot of them just can’t find support," he said.

“It’s multi levels that we have to address this with… We need to advocate all the time to senior levels of government to get more and more support to address all of these issues.”