More than 600 charges laid in one month as part of Project Safe Semester

Police have laid more than 600 charges in just one month as part of Project Safe Semester a 123 per cent increase over 2017.

The campaign targets the university area in Waterloo and the neighbourhood around Conestoga College in Kitchener.

The campaign was started on Aug. 26. Police have laid the following number of charges each week:

• 115 charges in the first week.
• 219 charges in the second week.
• 173 charges in the third week.
• 114 charges in the fourth week.

That's a total of 621 charges.

They include Liquor Licence Act andHighway Traffic Actinfractions, trespassing, and criminal offences.

The campaign, which also includes a city staff knocking on doors to talk to students and residents, wraps up Friday night/Saturday morning. The project does not include Wilfrid Laurier University's homecoming.

Police need to be proactive

In 2017, there were 278 charges laid during Project Safe Semester.

"What officers are seeing this year is not considerably different from what we've seen last year," acting Insp. Al Green told CBC K-W.

"What we determined is that we need to be proactive and we need to be on top of the situation from the beginning of the university semester to get our message out for students to be safe and respectful of the community," he said.

It means the Waterloo Regional Police Services has put "enhanced resources" into the project, which includes more officers in the area.

"Our enhanced presence has certainly resulted in a great deal of that," Green said of the increase in charges.