Public Safety and Solicitor General
The Cariboo-Chilcotin Region will soon benefit from $2.8 million over two years to crack down on crime through a new Regional Community Safety Model that builds on work underway and promotes enhanced coordination of public safety resources.
Four key actions under the model include:
- Establishing an RCMP Special Project Team to focus on specific crimes and prolific offenders that have the greatest impact on crime rates and public concern in the Region. The team will also have two dedicated officers focussed on First Nations relationship building.
- Deploying a regional co-ordinator based in Williams Lake to work closely with the RCMP Special Project Team, anti-gang units and others to improve communications and co-ordination between policing, provincial and community partners.
- Developing a prevention and outreach (WRAP) program that will target at-risk or gang involved youth (aged 11-17) who are in need of several, often overlapping services – this will be modelled on the Surrey Wrap Program.
- Creating a Tsilhqot’in community safety manager position to be developed in partnership with Tsilhqot’in National Government and to address specific First Nations public safety concerns.
These actions stem from discussions involving the Province, the City of Williams Lake, the RCMP, First Nations leaders and the local steering committee and complements work in progress through the Cariboo-Chilcotin Integrated Community Safety Initiative (ICSI). The ICSI was established in June, 2016 to strengthen collaboration among justice, health and social service partners. Additionally, the Guns and Gangs Strategy has been and continues to be leveraged to help stabilize the region for specific matters related to guns and gangs.
Quotes:
Mike Morris, Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General –
“Law enforcement can’t do it alone – the new Cariboo-Chilcoltin Regional Community Safety Model works to address the root causes of crime by focussing on boots on the ground prevention, outreach, information sharing and better co-ordination of resources. We are already seeing progress and this new model will help create a framework for community safety planning in other regions of the province.”
Donna Barnett, MLA, Cariboo-Chilcotin –
“The Cariboo-Chilcotin is a vast region that includes urban core cities, rural areas and remote communities with complex public safety needs. This new model addresses the fluid nature of crime in this region and will help facilitate a flexible yet co-ordinated response.”
Quick Facts:
- According to Statistics Canada, in 2015, Williams Lake ranked seventh in violent crime severity among more than 300 Canadian municipalities with a population over 10,000, compared to 2014, where they ranked first.
- The Cariboo-Chilcotin Integrated Community Safety Initiative (ICSI) was established in June, 2016 thanks to $500,000 in civil forfeiture grant funding: https://news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2016PSSG0126-001155
- The ICSI funding represents a portion of the $5 million Premier Christy Clark committed to target gangs, the roots of crime and the safety of First Nations at the Union of BC Municipalities convention in September 2015. The initiative also fulfils government’s commitment – upon the release of the report of the Blue Ribbon Panel on Crime Reduction in December 2014 – to consider a regional, integrated community safety partnership pilot project. The report is online at: http://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/law-crime-and-justice/criminal-justice/police/publications/government/blue-ribon-crime-reduction.pdf
- In 2016, close to $100,000 in civil and criminal forfeiture fund grants were provided to support four projects in Williams Lake and the Cariboo-Chilcotin region.
- On April 15, the Province announced a $23-million expansion of its Guns and Gangs Strategy focused on effective police enforcement and prosecution, community safety and public engagement, and expanding laws and sanctions targeting illegal guns and gang violence. For more details, see: https://news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2016PREM0041-000588
