Mayor Watts In The Hot Seat Over Rising Crime In Surrey As Police Search For Murdered Hockey Mom’s Killer

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Julie Paskall’s murder, the record 25th for Surrey in 2013,hascreated a surge of fear in the community. A task force has beencreated by the mayor but the NDP MLA Harry Bains says peopleare looking for immediate answers and action.

SURREY – Surrey mayor DianneWatts, who has been largely cruising inher cushy job as head of BC’s secondlargest city, is under pressure from Surreycitizens who feel that crime is fastrising in Surrey after the city recorded25 murders in 2013, a record number,with the latest victim being a hockeymom, who was brutally beaten anddied of her injuries.The 53-year-old Julie Paskall, whowas attacked in the parking lot of NewtonArena, died after she was found unconsciouson Sunday night.Paskall, who resided in Surrey, waspicking up her son, who was refereeinga game at the time of the attack.Homicide investigators say it wasan unprovoked attack.“Exactly how she was attackedand what happened just briefly prior tothat… that’s part of what we’re tryingto find out,” explains Sergeant AdamMacIntosh with IHIT.He tells us the motive still appearsto be robbery but they don’t have a suspect. “I can’t emphasize enough how muchwe would encourage anyone in the communitywith information [to call].Somebody knows who did this; somebodyhas information. We want them tocome forward and help us resolve this.”MacIntosh notes they still believe thisattack could be related to one that happenedon December 16th in the samearea. This is Surrey’s 25th homicide ofthe year. The previous record-high homiciderate in that city was 21, set in 2005.Paskall’s murder has created a surge offear in the community. A task force hasbeen created by the mayor but the NDPMLA Harry Bains says people are lookingfor immediate answers and action.“People don’t want to walk around in certainareas because of fear of their safety.So, we want to raise this with the [police]chief. Hopefully, they could step it up,”Bains says.Bains adds Mounties have told himthey’re doing all they can with theresources they have.Mayor Watts’ Task Force on CausalFactors provided an update on Friday onthe strategies identified and actionsundertaken.The Taskforce, which was set up 3 weeksago with the view to look at the causalfactors of the murders that occurred in2013, has been reviewing all the factorsthat lead to increase in all kinds of crimeand is not specific to one thing.


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