Police Target Prolific Offenders and Hotspot Properties
Monday, January 28, 2013 @ 10:55 AM
Prince George, B.C. – The Prince George detachment of the RCMP is adding a couple of new elements to its Crime Reduction strategy.
For the past 5 years, the detachment has been focusing on prolific offenders, those who cause the most harm to the community. Chronic offenders and a prolific property will be under the microscope.
Inspector Brad Anderson says there are two types of chronic offenders, those who are not necessarily a danger to the public, but because of addiction or mental health issues, are more likely a danger to themselves. Prince George RCMP say they will work with community partners to get these people the help or treatment they need, in hopes of avoiding jail time.
Then there is the other kind, those who have caused a lot of problems in a relatively short period of time. These are the offenders who don’t have addictions or mental health issues, but choose to carry out criminal acts for personal gain. Prince George RCMP say these are the criminals they will be targeting “they will either leave town or go to jail. Period” reads the release from the local detachment.
There will also be attention paid to a property which has been the scene of repeated calls or investigations.
Every two weeks, the Inspector will identify two Chronic Offenders and a Prolific Property that members of the Detachment will pay special attention to.
The first results are in.
The first targeted Chronic Offender selected was a 61 year old male with 113 police files in the last two years, 60 of them in 2012. Previously from Dawson Creek, police say this man has had addiction issues for years that have progressed to the point that if he doesn’t get help, he may not survive. Members of the Prince George RCMP have worked with the Justice, Health and Community partners to successfully get this man into a detox facility and have secured a bed for him at a treatment centre for one year.
The second Chronic Offender selected was a 27 year old male with mental health issues that was known to use methamphetamine and be violent towards others. Police have attended to 15 incidents involving this man in the last year, most of them in November and December and most involving mental health issues. In one incident, a knife was held to a family members throat. Prince George RCMP worked with the Justice, Health and Community partners and have been successful in getting this man a 30 day psychological assessment, which they hope will be followed up with treatment.
Prolific Properties, also called Hotspots, are residences used by criminals for a criminal purpose. Drug houses and flop houses would be examples. Prolific Properties are selected based on current activity and community need. The first property selected as part of this strategy, is located on the 1800 block of Tamarack Street in Prince George. Police have attended this address no less than 93 times in 2012. Through constant attention from all members of the Prince George RCMP including the execution of two search warrants, and with the support of the property owner, the tenants of this rental property have been evicted. Since the eviction, several persons were located inside the residence and were arrested for Being Unlawfully in a Dwelling House. Some of those persons were wanted for other offences. The property has been boarded up and is no longer an issue for police or members of the neighborhood.
"These additions to the Crime Reduction Program allow the police to have an immediate impact not only on reducing our calls for service, but more importantly the possibility of saving lives" states Inspector Brad Anderson, Operations Officer for the Prince George RCMP. "We will continue to look at ways to enhance our Crime Reduction Program and make this community an even safer place to live."
Since these three successes, two more Chronic Offenders and another Prolific Property have been identified and are currently being targeted.
Comments
Sounds like a good plan. I just wonder why it wasn’t implemented a long time ago? I hope it works well.
This is a great step and hopefully will bring about some positive change to our City.
I hope it’s successful and get’s us off the #1 spot for Maclean’s “most dangerous city” list.
I’ve said it in the past many times, I bet a bunch of the stats are coming from chronic repeat offenders. This article is proof that our hunch is right.
Most PG citizens live in a nice community with a lot of positive attributes. Little traffic problems, relatively cheap cost of living, low unemployment etc.
If we can make the City a little nicer to look at, fill in some potholes, and make the air a little nicer to breath we will be a City that others will want to move to.
We probably have less than 300 people that causes over 70% of crimes in this community. They are doing most of the B&E to feed their drug habit.
Seems to me like a simple solution.
first time, slap on the hand.
second time, slap on the head.
Third time you get $1,000.00 cash.
Forth time, you get braclet with GPS
Fifth time, you get incarcerated for two years less a day no parole.
Sounds good HeSpoke, but I would take out the first three steps.
There are many things I do not agree with the US. The only one i do agree with is a 3 strikes your out rule. Many states have picked up if you are caught 3 times for a larger crime your now in for a life sentance. Harsh, yeah, but perhaps there would be a little thought into the crime they are going to commit. If I were a prolific offender and knew that I was going to spend quite some time for assaulting some one, I may think twice. Oh the frustrations of society. Glad to hear we are taking steps forward in crime reduction.
JohnnyBelt. The first two steps are to appease the bleeding hearts. The third step is hoping they would OD, the forth and fifth step is for the law abiding citizens pound of salt.
In reality, a lot has to do with the will of federal politician to open up what Trudeau fed down our throats 25 years ago. Basically, giving the criminals more rights than law abiding citizens.
We need to change those laws, or at least tweak them so we can make life of crime not a career option.
You nailed it He Spoke. The justice system needs to take a look at the way they do things and realize their heads have been up their … for too long. It’s too easy to be a criminal and still run free.
Only a liberal state such as California could dream-up a hypocritical law such as the “three-strikes” law.
Why not PUNISH the guilty when they are found guilty of a felony? Why the need to play silly games to see what “qualifies” for a third strike? You want to see a prison population explosion? Enact this dense law.
Canada already has the right to incarcerate somebody indefinitely if they are a danger to the public, without so much as a charge against them. Just place a dangerous offender designation on them, and presto.
No the problem lies with the bleeding heart justice system and the revolving door. Just one violent crime should be enough for a long term federal sentence…but no: You can beat someone to within an inch of their life,leave them permanently disabled and be lucky to see a month in the Hilton on the hill. Just claim an abusive childhood and presto…a license to commit multiple violent crimes.
But will the judges buy in ? The cops do their job, the crown does its job, and then the judge wastes everyone’s time and money with a little probation sentence.
Quite simple. Really. Three strikes and your out. Just do as they do in the US and if you are busted for three serious crimes you go away for a minimum of 25 years before parole. Once you are let out on parole if you do one more you go away and don’t come back. End of story. You could spawn a whole industry around it and get the dead beats off the streets where they cause nothing but trouble in any community they reside in.
Hopefully they will start rounding up the prolific criminal offenders soon, and get them into jail. Once they start to do that, you will get an immediate decrease in your statistics.
It may not solve the problem of how to rehabilitate these people but it gets them off the streets in the meantime until someone figures out a better way.
An island in the Arctic. Even better than Alcatraz.
I was downtown the other evening with my wife and I have to say what a mess that St Vincint food bank thing is around 8pm… free dinner for the street people and some really shady people congregating in the area… one guy come out of there looking like he was high on something and doing a criss cross kind of side ways skip in circles on the street… came right at my truck and then kicked the car behind me and circled around and down into the back ally skipping sideways all the way like he was trying to goad anyone to try and stop him. Must of had a good meal, I’m surprised they feed him. An obvious case of mental illness if I ever seen one. Downtown PG is no place to be after dark because of characters like those.
Justice? It’s in the dictionary. Right between jackass and juvenile.
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