Retired Rutland man helps children navigate street crime on way to school

Retiree helps scared kids

Photo: Elden Ulrich

Rutland man, Elden Ulrich, is concerned for the safety of children using the walking to Springvalley Middle School.

A Rutland man who was born and raised in Kelowna wonders when he and others in his neighbourhood will feel safe again when they walk the streets.

Elden Ulrich has lived on Woods Road in Rutland for a decade, but these days, the retiree's morning dog walks feel more like a safety patrol than a retirement routine.

His quiet cul-de-sac near the Springvalley schools has become a chokepoint for Rutland’s street disorder and some local children are too intimidated to walk the pathways to get to school.

On Tuesday morning, Ulrich said he was walking down one of the pedestrian walkways with his dog.

"There’s a guy doing the fentanyl, folded over top of a shopping cart. There’s a kid behind me, and he doesn’t know how he’s going to get around this guy. So I yell at the guy and get him awake and get him moving."

At that point, he turned to the boy and suggested that if he ever feels uncomfortable, he can always knock on his door, pointing to his home nearby.

"He must have spread the word to his friends. Yesterday afternoon, only my daughter's home, two middle school kids knock on the door asking for help," Ulrich said.

Ulrich’s daughter, who works in the neighbourhood, helped the children navigate a safe route home.

"What do we have to do to get our kids to school and back?" Ulrich asked.

Ulrich said his neighbourhood has seen a spike in emergency calls, and he has a long list of incidents he has noted over the past several months. Two weeks ago, his snow blower was stolen from his carport.

Ulrich said he eventually got his snowblower back, but noted that the number of his neighbours who now have security cameras has spiked.

"It's so common to see them going up and down the street trying door handles on cars, we don't even think twice about it. That's just normal life for us now in this neighbourhood."

Ulrich believes the push to clean up the business core of Highway 33 is funnelling the problem deeper into the residential streets where kids walk to school.

"I know they want to push them out of there for the businesses, but they're not going away. They're just pushing them further into the residential neighbourhoods."

Ulrich and his neighbours have discussed becoming local crime watchers in their community.

"Right now in my neighbourhood... six out of eight houses have security cameras in under two years. Why do we need security cameras? Do we have to do a daytime neighbourhood watch?"