CNC students are looking at the proposed enhancements to the RCMP budget with a critical eye.
Prior to the start of budget deliberations, Sociology Professor Marc Sinclair contacted the city to review the police pitch for more staff, as well as unofficial minutes.
As an extra-credit assignment to wrap up their criminology unit, students then wrote a letter to the city saying whether or not they supported the enhancements.
Those papers combined with a powerful RCMP presentation to City Council opened wove a sticky web of hot topics that involve not only the Prince George force, but officers across Canada
Sinclair says students who worked with police through volunteering and ride-alongs saw the need for increased boots on the ground, though others were supportive, but still critical.
“Prince George has a population that is suffering and would greatly benefit from increased resources put towards Car 60, Domestic Violence Unit, Urban Aboriginal Policing, and the Downtown Safety Unit. I have also personally witnessed many positive police interactions with these people. These programs are needed to support these people and will ultimately increase the quality of life for everyone in Prince George… There is a large number of people who have barriers that have nothing to do with personal choice. I recognize that police work is becoming increasingly complex as a result of provincial downloading of responsibilities,” wrote Haley Reich, a student who had a practicum at Positive Living North, volunteered with the Fire Pit, and worked for the Elizabeth Fry Society.
“Engaging youth can assist officers and community partners in better understanding the root cause of issues that may not always be apparent by looking from the outside in. The work of our police officers is appreciated by us all. The reallocated police resources approach can be more proactive than reactive will be beneficial to the entire community,” noted Kelsey MacDonald, a member of the RCMP Community Policing Program.
RCMP Superintendent Warren Brown said the detachment uses proactive bodies like Car 60 to focus on specific crime trends, depleting front-line officers.
“To my understanding, Car 60 is designed to funnel mental health calls away from general duty officers and toward the detachments trained officers and psychiatric nurses supplied by Northern Health. This re-allocation of resources should help alleviate general duty officers from mental health calls, allowing more time for patrols or crime reduction activities,” argued Rhiannon Arnett in her letter. “Perhaps a less reactive approach is working well for the people in our city and continuing to focus attention and money towards community policing programs will continue to decrease our city’s crime rate.”
The crime rate garnered quite a reaction from council, with Mayor Hall calling the numbers ‘staggering’.
“A lot of people look at the crime rate and think it’s an objective number. It’s not,” says Sinclair. “It’s police-reported crime, and it doesn’t say anything about conviction rates. More crime is happening than what the police are catching. But on the other side, they’re not objective because police have a say in whether or not they will report and charge someone with a crime.”
Mayor Hall noted the $1.4 million dollar overtime price tag in 2014 topped the 3-year staff increase price tag the RCMP are proposing, which Supt. Brown says is everyday business for the detachment.
“Our overtime is consistently high. The majority of the overtime is having police officers come in and ensure we have adequate staffing numbers on the road, just to answer the calls. This is not providing community policing initiatives, or ensuring we have officers in schools for liaison programs, this is bare minimum, boots-on-the-ground officers just answering calls.”
In the meantime, the RCMP will keep doing what they do best, though some warm officers are nearing a burnout point.
“We’re certainly not going to take our foot off the gas, and we’re going to work as hard as we can, however, it makes it less of a desirable place to work,” explained Brown. “For those pressures, when you compare us to other detachments… Retention becomes an issue, attraction becomes an issue, and those are already internal pressures that we face here.”
City staff will further discuss the RCMP budget enhancement request next Wednesday.
Though several students didn’t agree with the RCMP’s delivery of the statistics, they felt additional resources were necessary.
Sinclair says Supt. Brown has agreed to visit his class to further discuss policing in Prince George.
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