Sunshine , lollypops and rainbows. IPG and TPG should do a promo video of free sunglasses for our citizens because the future is so bright. And get a Delorean in the video.

I think its a waste of my property tax dollars to employ these people to ‘sell our story’. Incubating a propaganda mill.

I’d prefer our tax dollars simply went to providing facts, statistics, actual services and infrastructure, and let those that want to invest do so on the merits of the investment alone.

In a ‘story’ like this ‘most dangerous city’ situation… they should simply say dangerous is a shock value disingenuous word to use implying random violence, when we all know one is far more likely to see random violence in any other big city in Canada. This story is simply one of reported crime stats modeled on per capita of the population.

To really fight a ‘story’ like this we don’t need more story tellers. Why not simply make available the stats that show crime rates or offenses committed by the neighborhood or districts of the city… show the world that places like the Hart Highway area, or Foothills subdivision have the lowest crime rates in all of Canada. Let the truth be told and make it possible for the story tellers to have credibility when showing actual research.

PG is a city of contrasts when it comes to crime IMO. Its almost a matter of choice in the friends you keep and the circles you travel in… and the statistics I think would prove that.

We should thank Brian Skakun for the reduced crime rate in 2011. He got rid of former chief of police who was the big problem. I guess he diddled while Rome burnt.
cheers

Nice Picture of a Law Breaker, Side Walk not
Bike Lane, if you can’t ride on the Road stay home. I will not jump out of the Way for you. The latest is everything goes, like the Rules are not for me.

Eagleone, I see what you are getting at but it’s not really a winnable argument IMHO.

Does the Hart Highway or Foothills have lower crime rates than middle to upper class suburban areas in Saskatoon, Halifax, Windsor, Quebec City or Kamloops? I highly doubt it. Most any city in Canada could pick out a couple of areas and proclaim that they have no crime. That isn’t unique to PG.

While most any city could pick out “no crime” zones, the other thing that many cities can do (which PG has been unable to in recent years) is highlight the fact that on an overall basis, they also have low crime rates when compared to peer communities.

The best way to deal with this issue is to start addressing the reasons why crime is such a problem in PG and not just any crime, but the type of crime that has caused the fairly recent peaks that result in the bad press. The reason for that is not people that are down on their luck, street people or others drawn to PG from other cities in the hopes of finding a better life but getting sucked into the dark side of life in PG.

The reason for the spikes, at least IMO, can be placed 100% at the feet of the recent influx of gang related activity into PG. Everyone needs to stand up and start recognizing that fact. The businesses that cater to them need to say “your business isn’t wanted”, parents need to question why their daughters are dating 18 year old kids with nicer vehicles than they own, every municipal politician should be fully in support of whatever policing action is required to eliminate gangs and their influence in PG and the city should also be harassing the RCMP and other Provincial and Federal stakeholders until they start to see results.

Gangs prey on an entire community and the only way you will beat them is to come together as one. It took a small innocent boy getting killed by a bomb to drive folks in Quebec to that point, one would hope that history doesn’t have to repeat itself in PG.

There are two distinct groups when one looks at TPG and IPG. One deals with tourists, the other deals with businesses surveying whether PG is a good place to open up a legitimate (as opposed to a grow op, etc.) business.

So far the crime stats reporting have not provided any information about who the typical targets are and which neighbouhoods are the prime targets for what kind of crime. I think both TPG and IPG have a duty to have knowledge of that in order to determine when warnings should be given and what those warnings should be.

With respect to tourism, I present an extreme which I believe we do not have at this time – Mexico.

http://www.voyage.gc.ca/countries_pays/report_rapport-eng.asp?id=184000

“Be careful accepting food, drinks, invitations, or rides from strangers or recent acquaintances. Avoid leaving your food and drinks unattended in bars and restaurants. There have been cases of travellers being robbed or assaulted after being drugged. Avoid excessive alcohol consumption, as this can make you a more vulnerable target for criminals.”

Here is a less dangerous norm – France, one of the countries infamous for its pickpockets and purse snatchers.

http://www.voyage.gc.ca/countries_pays/report_rapport-eng.asp?id=92000

“There has been a significant increase in violent theft on public transportation in Paris and its suburbs. Thieves often use violence (bag snatching) and target people talking on phones. Travellers should limit their use of mobile phones while on public transportation to avoid attracting attention.”

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As far as awareness for our residents as well as for those wishing to relocate businesses and/or residences here, the VPD crime map should be replicated in PG, in my opinion. We do not need to have such information kept secret. We need to be made aware of our situation. We are number on on both violent and non-violent crime. We are owed a duty to have access to better information, real estate agents be dammed.

Whatever happend to block watch? If people knew the naighbourhood they lived in had high rates of break ins then they might just start to help to do something about it.

http://vancouver.ca/police/CrimeMaps/index.htm

It is interesting to see that West Point Grey, Musqueam, Kerrisdale, and Shaughnessy essentially have no pockets of B&E. Must all have enough money to afford a good quality security system.

NMG, I think the number of homicides in 2000 was the same as in 2010. As you know, with such a small population, any aberration will spike the stats. i would like to see such stats over a much loinger period and especially as they relate to economic changes in the community.

A graph of the crime categories from 1960 onward would really provide a meaningful piece of information. We are totally seeing too small slices in time to have any other reaction than “oh my God, this is terrible.”

Well, when I got here in 1973 and was flown in for a job interview, the taxicab driver told me all about his opinion of the wild west town PG was.

BTW, there is a lesson for those at IPG and TPG if they did not already know. If you want to change opinions, get a closer relationship with people who interface with tourists and out of town business people – taxicab drivers, servers at resturants. I know everyone hangs their hat on social networks these days. But really, do not forget about the real social networks, the face to face interaction with people who travel and those who relate to them in that world as they stay in a community for a few hours or a few days and even weeks.

Good points gus. It would be interesting to see the stats related to a longer term analysis.

I do know from having frequented some of the local establishments back when I living in PG, that the whole crowd seemed to start to change around the late 1990’s I would say. My sense is that was when the more “overt” criminal element started to take a foothold in PG. It’s even more obvious now I would suggest.

I’m not sure if the overall crime rates have changed or not, but I think it is more entrenched now and perhaps less reliant on economic conditions, the issues associated with a fast growing city, etc.

Even though the overall crime level may not have changed from years past, my gut tells me that the type of crime and the manner in which it is perpetrated in PG, is much more toxic than it used to be. IMHO, this is what the big concern should be, not simply focusing on the crime rate itself. Not sure if this makes sense or not.

Fear not you commoners. Just keep digging into your bottomless pockets, for the Golden Raven shall save us all.

http://goldenraven.ca/

Maybe we should market the Pig as an ‘adventure destination’. Like say Liberia or Iran. Let’s put a rose on this turd.

Prince George made national news for this. It’s going to take more than a few brochures and websites to fix.

“Obviously, it puts another hurdle in our way in terms of perception,” says Tourism PG CEO, Aidan Kelly.

Perception? Good God man, where do you come from? This is not preception! It is reality! Anyone who does not understand that is not going to be part of the solution!!! Like an addict, the start to recovery is to realize one is an addict. Until then, one cannot deal with the root of the problem.

“One of the things that we deal with here in Prince George, and in Northern BC in general, is just the perception overall of the communities, so an article like this doesn’t do too much overall to help us out.”

Yeeeez!! .. perception, perception, perception. How about reality. reality, reality? Is there any room in the equation for facing reality!!
———————————–
IPG Vice-President of Strategic Initiatives, Heather Oland, agrees, “I really don’t think that we should give (the article) more weight than its due.”

And exactly how much weight does Oland think it is due? How exactly is she going to measure whether whatever strategy she may be able to pull out of the hat is going affect the statistics? Look at the raw data. Don’t even bother with the McLean’s story. It will essentially tell the same story.

IPG, Tourism PG, City Administrations, City Councils, etc. should have been looking at this decades ago. Again, this did not just happen overnight and it is really not abnormal for this area and several other areas of the country which have similar environments.

So tell me, when is the new mayor going to get a committee dealing with crime in the city together? Or do we have one already?

Open for business ……. so what does that mean anyway?

This city used to have a “Healthy Community Committee” reporting to Council. After a few years it was disbanded. This city did not understand what a healthy community was at the time. They still do not know that.

The City has no integrated strategic planning that I am aware of. Is anyone aware of any integrated responsibilities?

Who is tying all the silos together? I do not see anyone doing that. Council likely tries to, but there needs to be a parallel organization within the group reponsible for implementing the directions Council sets.

Where can we see an organization chart which identifies the structure, the roles, the line of authorities and the responsibilities of each? Where can we see an assessment of how well the organization is working.

There are a number of indicators that say it is not workiing all that well. Maybe municipla governancer is getting to complex. Maybe we need to tackle municipal management in a different fashion in this day of rapid and open communication.

I mean, even the request for budget cuts goes to every department to see what it would mean to them to reduce their net expenditures by 10%.

The operations side of the house should not be a bunch of silos. Integrate, look for duplication, look for joint responsibilities, look for teams bridging the traditional silos. Measure output rather than input. Are we being effective in achieving goals? We do not seem to be in more and more cases.

I have some experience with cross functional teams and yes they do work, often incredibly well. The biggest barrier with those and other “organic” structures, is getting the “old school” managers (who just love their “top down” and silo based models) to believe that there are better ways of doing things.

Allot of it comes down to control, “chain of command” and even ego. Heck, council would almost certainly be well served by bringing a sample of front line city employees into chambers and asking them for their ideas and suggestions on how to improve operations. That’s where the bulk of the knowledge actually lies. Managers don’t see that. Leaders do. The city needs less of the former and more of the latter . . .

Screw it! Market ourselves as the “Crime Capital of Canada”. We should get all kinds of “Looky Lou” tourist dollars. Heck where are the T-Shirts with Mr PG riding a Hog with a joint in his mouth and gun in his hand? Heck they still do tours of Alcatraz don’t they?

I understand from one person who works at City Hall in middle management that the structure that individual’s department is shifting from a flat structure back to a pyramidal structure.

My work over the years has dealt both with project management as well as department and division management.

My happiest and most productive times have been with interdisciplinary project and program management. That is when true teamwork has taken place more often than simple on-going departmental programs year after year.

I find that departmental programs and projects are more often measures by input whereas project management is always time, cost and quality output directed and measured.

You do your job well, the company gets another project.

I think that could work NoSeverance. Sometimes one has to take life a little bit less serious. This might be one of those times with the right leadership to develop that kind of approach.

;-)

Good idea NoSeverance. T shirts with “Prince George, BC — Crime Capital of Canada”
I don’t think there would be any competition with another city trying to capture that honour.

I have a T shirt with the Christina Lake “Pot Bears” on it. I’m sure they sold quite a few and are still selling them. It certainly can’t do any harm — hey Stolz, you sell T shirts in your store! Get on it. I’ll buy a bunch for my friends who live elsewhere.