The Sunshine Coast RCMP have reopened their front counters to the public in both Gibsons and Sechelt.
Sechelt is open Monday to Friday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. The Gibsons office is open Monday to Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. but is closed between 12 and 1 p.m. for lunch. Non-emergency reports can still be called in to the office at 604-885-2266 to limit contact with others.
“Like every reopening of businesses on the Sunshine Coast, we have implemented measures to ensure the safety of our employees and the public,” Staff Sgt. Poppy Hallam said in a statement posted June 25.
“Our offices will be practising physical distancing in our foyers and we are asking the public to follow the guidelines posted at each office unless there is an immediate public safety situation,” Hallam said.
Sechelt Detachment will have a maximum capacity in the foyer of three persons unless family or a public safety emergency. Gibsons will be two maximum. Members of the public are asked to wait outside if there is a full foyer unless they are feeling unsafe outside and need to come in.
Personal protection equipment is available for the public to use if they have to be in close contact with any RCMP employees while they conduct their business, Hallam said, adding that public spaces are being sanitized regularly.
“Some of the services that require close personal contact such as fingerprinting may look different and may require a return to the detachment at a scheduled time to ensure our immune-compromised or at-risk employees are not inadvertently exposed.”
Hallam said the RCMP are grateful to the public for their support during the past three months.
“The Sunshine Coast has done an amazing job of keeping our residents safe and healthy and the employees of the RCMP really appreciate all that the community has done,” she said.
Calls for service have actually increased during the pandemic, she said, “so we have been doing our best to respond to your calls and still provide community-based policing initiatives, but in innovative ways, such as car parades and Zoom conference calls.
“The health and well being of all residents of the Sunshine Coast is our focus and we are doing everything we can to ensure we are doing our part to keep communities safe.”
