Many Prince George residents have been concerned about an increase of crime within the city, and have been taking these issues to City Council.
PG RCMP Superintendent Shaun Wright took some time to address these issues, as well as point out the overarching problems we are seeing in today’s criminal justice system.
One of the topics that was brought up was the Queensway Initiative, which Wright noted predated his time as Superintendent, but he said these initiatives tend to have an expiry date.
“We do have limited resources, and we can’t keep up heightened enforcement everywhere. So really once the numbers of occurrences subside, we then have to focus on whatever the next higher priority is.”
Wright also suggested that residents should check the City’s crime map to see where crimes are being reported.
Another tool that was suggested was the use of the RCMP’s Online Crime Reporting system, which feeds into the RCMP’s data and helps them determine where more of a presence is needed.
Using the system is suggested for situations where it’s not an emergency, and where it may take too long for an officer to respond.
He added that they have a new Crime Analyst on staff who has been working on giving the RCMP a scope on where resources need to be sent.
Wright noted that there is also a consulting firm looking into the needs of policing within PG, and that they’re hoping to have a report finished by September.
Wright also discussed moving the RCMP back to it’s core function, and having other organizations take back some of the responsibilities that he feels are not the RCMP’s.
That was a topic discussed back in February at a City Council meeting, and Wright noted that since then they’ve had some meaningful talks.
“Those discussions are ongoing, and I’m optimistic that we can really focus on our core function moving forward.”
But Wright said there was a larger problem that goes beyond Prince George.
“We’ve seen dramatic changes in the BC Prosecution Service from this government with regards to not prosecuting what they consider lower level crimes.”
“This affects us in Prince George exponentially more than other places because it really focuses on removing Indigenous persons from the justice system. And a high proportion of our population and offenders are Indigenous, just due to the demographics of our location.”
Under the Crown Counsel Policy Manual, in the Charge Assessment Guidelines, it lists factors that either weigh for prosecution, or against it.
One of the factors that weighs against prosecution is the overrepresentation of Indigenous people.
“The need to reduce overrepresentation of Indigenous persons as accused within the criminal justice system, particularly where R.v.Gladue factors have played a part in the Indigenous person’s coming into contact with the criminal justice system,” states the guidelines.
Further into the guidelines, it’s noted that the history of colonialism, displacement, and residential schools has translated into lower educational attainment, lower incomes, higher unemployment, higher rates of substance abuse and suicide, and higher levels of incarceration for Indigenous people.
But Wright said that, mixed with the bar being raised on the types of offences that see prosecution is causing much of what we are seeing today.
“It’s not like five, ten years ago where we would arrest somebody for a crime like that, and they could be off the streets for a week, a month. Now, they’re typically not off the streets at all, and in many cases there’s no penalty for that behavior.”
He noted that data is being collected on the effects of these policies, and they’ve seen municipalities reach out to Crown Counsel to ask why such policies are in place.
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