Communities desperate for help, change needed to check growing crime wave
In a province where criminals are seen as victims, where a family can be held at knifepoint only to be told their assailant will likely never go to jail, and where chronic offenders continue to be released with no consequences, communities are desperate for help to stem this unchecked crime wave. Fort St. John is no exception.
After hearing these concerns from Fort St. John residents and the municipality, Peace River North MLA Dan Davies put together a Town Hall meeting with a panel to discuss the problems, and how the Opposition MLAs intend to resolve the situation if they form the next provincial government in October.
Who better to provide informed first-hand knowledge of crime and possible solutions than a panel consisting of two former cops and a prosecutor? MLAs Mike Morris, Elenore Sturko, and Michael de Jong, travelled to Fort St. John for the event, rounding out the panel were Mayor Lilia Hansen and the city’s Chief Administrative Officer Milo MacDonald, another former RCMP member.
Accountability and clarity are needed in the justice system according to the panel. Abbotsford West MLA Michael de Jong who currently serves as Shadow Minister for the Attorney General told the crowd at the Lido that the plague of crime and repeat offenders has grown in recent years, and the quick release of offenders back into the community is doing nothing to improve the public’s sense of safety.
“There is this narrative that the present government likes to advance that anyone who is a chronic offender is themselves a victim.” - de Jong
Something de Jong said he learned as a prosecutor was that if a Crown prosecutor doesn’t ask for a chronic offender to be detained, they won’t.
“You have to say to the judge, Your Honour this person in the view of the Crown, in our view this person is at risk of reoffending, stealing property, injuring people,” he said. While this is not a guarantee that the offender will be detained, if prosecutors don’t ask, they never will be.
When the problem started to develop, the opposition told the Attorney General of the day, now Premier, David Eby, that he needed to define what a chronic offender is and give direction to the Crown prosecutors that when a chronic offender is before the court, they need to ask for that offender to be detained.
“There is this narrative that the present government likes to advance that anyone who is a chronic offender is themselves a victim,” de Jong said.
There are people who have fallen on hard times, and into substance use, but there’s also another group who are criminals because they like to take shortcuts and steal from people, he said. “If we keep signaling that that’s okay, that there will be no sanctions for those who choose to take that path, then that group will continue to grow.”
Former RCMP officer, Mike Morris, now Prince George-Mackenzie’s MLA and Shadow Minister for Public Safety and the Solicitor General agreed with de Jong.
“We have to go back to holding people accountable for any level of crime that they commit. They don’t all have to go to jail, we can bring in a restorative justice program, we can look at other ways to deal with individuals that perhaps have addictions problems,” Morris said. “Right now, everything defaults to the courts and the courts aren’t equipped to deal with mental health and addictions issues.”
Just as the courts aren’t equipped to deal with mental health and addictions issues, municipalities are finding it difficult to manage criminal elements in their communities when the provincial government has failed to provide tools to help municipalities and police.
Recent shootings in the Triangle Park and Camarlo Park neighbourhoods in the city, illustrate just how poorly equipped the municipality is to deal with these types of crimes.
As former RCMP officer, CAO MacDonald is well aware of the challenges in dealing with repeat offenders, a topic which has received a lot of interest in the community in recent months, largely due to criminal activities involving a couple of residences in the city.
“Municipalities aren’t really well-positioned to use bylaws to manage criminal affairs. It’s not an effective way of doing business. A nuisance bylaw is really intended to make sure you cut your grass, and you turn your music off after eleven o’clock at night, that’s the purpose of it,” MacDonald said. “It’s not designed to be able to control and put constraints on people, who are involved in drug trafficking, firearms offences and shootings.”
Policing is one of the biggest expenses for the city, at $10 million per year, it’s a considerable investment according to MacDonald. An investment that the city wants to make more effective by finding ways to support the police officers who are keeping the community safe at night, especially as they address the issue of repeat offenders.
The Community Safety Amendment Act would be an ideal tool for municipalities, said Mayor Lilia Hansen. This Act is an amendment of the Community Safety Act (2013), which although was given Royal Assent in October 2019, has not been enacted.
Under the Community Safety Amendment Act, the province would appoint an ombudsman, and through bylaw enforcement, the city could refer files on problem properties to the ombudsman who would then talk to the RCMP, Hansen explained.
“The city is not looking to be judge and jury on anything when it comes to nuisance property, but we do need another tool in the toolbox, and this is something that could definitely help us.”
Other tools that the city is looking at to support the RCMP in their endeavours are a Situation Table, which MacDonald says is a way of creating an environment where there’s collaboration between non-profits.
“We’re working on supporting a program called Housing First, which is a way of saying all good things will follow once somebody is housed,” he said.
MacDonald is also encouraged by the way people are interested in being part of the solution have come out and found ways to support the city and the RCMP. Recently, a group of residents got together to bring back Citizens on Patrol a group which had proved to be an effective deterrent in the past.
Despite the optimistic outlook on the part of the city, some residents at Thursday evening’s meeting had harrowing tales to tell, like the mother whose home was broken into last summer while they were home, and the family was held at knifepoint.
The support for victims is virtually non-existent, she said. It took 200 days to get approved for counselling for her children.
“Two hundred days, that’s not acceptable,” she said.
“I also feel like I’m not allowed to feel like a victim, because he himself is a victim of mental health and addictions. It’s frustrating because I have to explain to my children how someone can do this to us, and not go to jail.”
Local businesses are also suffering at the hands of repeat offenders. Business owner Rui Miranda said that in the last 14 months, he’s spent $200,000 just to keep his doors open because of break and enters.
“I’m an ex-law enforcement officer as well, and I’ve got to tell you, that today judges and prosecutors are not held accountable. Why does somebody who has been picked up 22 times, goes to court and the judge says okay, you go out there and be good today,” said Andy Ackerman. “There’s no accountability in the justice system.”
“Government needs to hold judges as well as prosecutors accountable. Because if we don’t, this whole system which is broken, is just going to continue. It’s not going to be good for anybody,” Ackerman said. “The police are doing a good job, they’re up against incredible odds, but when they take it to court, they’ve got two people to fight, the prosecutor and the judge, and that’s not right.”
Ackerman feels that being tougher on chronic offenders will go along way towards alleviating the problem, along with helping those people who really need help.
De Jong agreed, reiterating his comments about the need for the provincial Attorney General to define what a chronic offender is, and set a threshold where the prosecutor is required to ask for detention every time.
The second part of the equation is the judges, said de Jong, which is the Federal part of it. “This was considered 20 or 25 years ago, and I think by necessity its time has come again. That’s legislating minimum sentences.”
Judges, he said, are charged with interpreting and applying the law that is set by the elected parliaments. In case of criminal law, that’s the Federal government. The criminal code can impose minimum sentences and eliminates the discretion of the judge.
“We’ve got to start holding people accountable, and right now the system is not doing that.” - Davies
“I don’t know how else to reintroduce elements of accountability into criminal law and in our society,” said de Jong.
Restoring accountability is necessary in order for British Columbians to feel safe in their communities, and their homes.
“Even in our rural areas, crime and disorder is an issue. When people are walking down the street and they don’t feel safe, that’s an issue. When store owners get a big window smashed out, that’s a huge impact on a small business. We’ve got to start holding people accountable, and right now the system is not doing that,” said Davies. “That has to change.”