Policing and Crime Challenges in Prince George Detailed
Monday, September 24, 2012 @ 9:49 AM
Prince George, B.C.-The policing issues facing Prince George and communities in the Interior can be boiled down to matters of; mental health, funding, duplication of services, gang activity and domestic violence.
That is according to the report from the roundtable discussion held in Prince George last May as part of the Provincial Government’s consultation process in developing a new BC Policing Plan.
The Prince George report indicates participants in the roundtable discussion ( which included police, local government, First Nations, and support service providers) believe :
a) there needs to be more support for those who suffer with mental health issues to prevent the revolving door syndrome with the justice systemb) extra work to break the cycle of criminal activity, through development of long term solutions that look at root causes of crime, health education and familyc) Build a stronger sense of communityd)community responsibilitye) encourage more volunteerismf) develop programs to more effectively deal with domestic and community violenceg) youth supporth) gang activityi) information sharing and collaboration to reduce the duplication of services.
The Prince George roundtable was one of nine held in the Province between April and June of this year.
The province has now woven together the feedback from all nine roundtables into one report (available here)
The next stage in the BC Policing Plan is a series of focus groups on specific topics emerging from the roundtables. Focus groups are being convened with experts and practitioners in the following areas:
· Community Engagement
· Continuum of Law Enforcement
· Crime Prevention and Public Safety
· Gangs and Guns
· Mental Health and Policing
· Multi-agency collaboration and coordination of services
· Performance Management of Policing
· Police Funding
The focus groups will build on the feedback from the roundtables to develop strategies to be incorporated into the BC Policing Plan.There will be another opportunity for the public to submit it’s thoughts on the plan before it is finalized and implemented.
Comments
I can see how crime is intergrated in alot of aspects of the total comunity. Efficiency in the total funding of these services will be helpful in reducing crime overall.
Being in Ottawa, you must see the grey area between the black and the white as being very wide indeed!
Are we still N0 4?
Cheers
One of the items in the first stage was completly ignored in the second stage which is the same old same old stuff we have herd for years.
One of the most longer solutios is “education”.
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a) there needs to be more support for those who suffer with mental health issues to prevent the revolving door syndrome with the justice system
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and the above is another responsability of the Provincial Government but its the governent that also created some of the problems by closing the mental institutions and turnig these people over to tbe community.
Some much for great plans
Cheers
One of the most longer solutios is “education”?
Glad you picked that up vested
Cheers
I do agree with what you are saying, Retired. But, the points in the article above have to be addressed first. How are you (we) going to educate a young person who has:
1. Mental Health issues
2. Little or no support at home
3. Violence at home
4. No sense of responsibility (community or otherwise)
5. constant pressure to joint a gang.
These issues have to be dealt with, otherwise educating an individual(I’m assuming you mean staying in school here)is unlikely to be happen with any great success.
Most of the services we provide in the city deal with the symptoms. And, those people have not time or skill to deal with the underlying problems that cause the behavior problems. it’s a viscious circle.
All people need to belong to something. All people need to feel valued. All people need to be loved. All people need to produce something of value that others need and want and are willing to pay for. This gives everyone value and purpose. If they still cannot do these things, they just need to be loved anyway and looked after.
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