9 judges last week, 13 sheriffs this week, cases are still getting thrown out, too little too late in my ever so humble opinion.

I entertained the idea of becoming a Sheriff not too long ago. Sadly I’m in too poor physical condition to go down that route.

Still, I think its a good thing. They provide a much needed service within our court system. We probably could use a lot more…..

How about a “Barney Fife” position to compensate?

Well it’s a step in the right direction (can’t believe I said that considering who the justice minister is). We need the staffing, once we have that we need to turn the burners on and start whipping some of the back log down. There are too many cases that should be in and out with little delay. Too often these cases drag for years before you even get a court date.

Once we catch the back log up then and only then will our police be an effective deterrent to crime. The though of getting caught and actually having a speedy trial with a good possibility of getting a stiff sentence based on timely correct testimony is the only way to curb the local crime levels.

These B&E artists who think because the system is back logged they will never get to trial because they can plead out due to the time delay, this also applies to drunk driving, and a whole host of other crimes.

Once the message gets down the pipe that we take the laws seriously and we don’t doddel on getting them before a judge, things will start to change (I hope).

I dont think that one full time sheriff in Pr George will make a big difference, however its a start.

We need to look closely at all the back logged charges awaiting trial, and drop all those that are first offenders, or those that are (less) serious. This will leave us with those crimes that have the most detrimental effects on the City. We can then process these asap, and hand out some jail time.

Speaking of jails, the new police station looks more like a glorified prison than a police station. In fact, I heard that this building has 40 cells. If so then for all intents and purposes, it is a prison.

What I really like about it is that this ugly (prison) is right downtown in everyones face. No doubt inmates will be able to sit at windows, play solitaire, and watch the traffic go by.

Wrong design, wrong location, and out of control costs.

Sentences? The time it takes? Judges? Courthouse back log? Just how long does it take to say, “One day in jail and eighteen months probation”, for evey case? IMO.

” drop all those that are first offenders, or those that are (less) serious.”
SERIOUSLY?? LET THEM WALK??
Ha Ha, Jail time?
You really should spend some time at court.
I’ve had my laugh for the day, thanks.

Kinda like ICBC policy? Instead of one free accident you get one free crime? That’ll work. Ha ha ha .

Actually when you think about it you do get free crime. That is the crook gets to walk, and you get to pay the deduction on your house or car insurance, and enjoy having your insurance rates go up.

There is no point in having all these people in the justice system awaiting trial if, in the end you are going to let them go with a slap on the wrist. Far better off to get most of them off the books, concentrate on the serious crimes, and give out some serious jail time.

We all know that the status quo is not working. We need to have some sanity pumped into the system.

We can lay the failure of our system to our politicians, who run around the Country for photo ops, make vacilating statements about the economy, take trips to China, and basically waste time and money, but do not deal with the basic problems.ie; crime, roads, debt, population decline, school, university decline, and high cost of living. Thats where our politicians should be looking.

Where are we getting all the criminals from? I would say that Prince George is a place that criminals are attracted to and to some extent sent to by the system.

As usual we never get any supporing evidence on statements such as. ** The Police have arrested 40 prolific offenders** Ok what happened after that. What is happening now. In other words, how many went to trial, how many convicted, what were the sentences. Who is going to answer these questions. Better still who is going to ask the questions. Does our Mayor know?? Does she care?

People come from central BC to the Prince George prison when they have a sentence of 2 years less a day. Some of them are released to places such as Activators, or St Patricks, and I suspect Baldy Hughes to finish thier sentences, they are then released into the community.

In addition we have a number of Federal prisoners that are able to finish thier sentences the same as those listed above.

No doubt a large number of these people remain in Prince George, which is not a problem if they discontinue committing crimes, but how many do??

We cannot dispute the MacLeans crime figures for Prince George while at the same time we have brought in a drug force to Prince George to deal with crime. In addition the additonal spaces at the new jail would indicate that we expect to continue to have crime problems, or we just built the extra cells because we had nothing else to do that day.

We have a problem. Arguing about statistics, or pretending that we are doing everything possible to alleviate the problem is not sufficient. We need to have some concrete evidence that we are making headway, otherwise people will start leaving this town.

Like I said, you really need to spend a week or two in a courtroom.

Insead of looking at our social problems we are building more prisons and more enforcement Imagine our little village with 128 policemen.
Cheers

Insead of looking at our social problems we are building more prisons and more enforcement Imagine our little village with 128 policemen.
Cheers

Posted by: Retired 02 on December 9 2012 10:11 AM

Instead of looking at our social problems we are building more prisons and more enforcement Imagine our little village with 128 policemen.

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I agree 100%. Let’s stop throwing so much money and resources at the symptoms and start doing something about the causes.

Slim2229. What would I learn by spending a week of two in a courtroom.

We have been channeling people through the courtroom since the City was established back in 1912.

The justice system has become a business, there are thousands of people who’s income is dependent of channeling the criminal element through the court system.

It always amazes me that we try and convince the world as to how bright and intelligent we are, and in the next breath thrown up our hands and say we cant fix the system. Horshit pure and simple.

If there is no will, then the system breaks down or remains the same.

Take the Emergency at the Regional Hospital. For years it has been a problem, but we still havent fixed it. Why?? Are we incompentent, or lazy. Are we tied up in management, union, malaize, and unable to cope with basic problems?? Does the Government piss our money away on **stupid** projects, while crime, and other problems are ignored.

The whole system of Government in BC is sucking the live blood out of communities, and taking away the ability of people to be involved in solutions.

We have our Mayor and Council presently in the process, of bringing back parking meters, selling off assets like the Civic Centre, Swimming Pool, and Pine Valley Golf Course. Is it just a coincidence that the assets that are going on the block, are those that have been paid for??

Will the sale of these assets improve our crime rates, fix the emergency problem, fix our roads or infrastructure, or solve any other problems in the City. I sinceraly doubt it. Which is my point.

Lets look at the real problems and get out of the ego feeding, big shotism, culture that pervades this City.

Palopu, I agree with you on many topics, but you are way out of your league on this one.