They should also discuss how our elected officials trying to squeeze every penny they can out of the taxpayers… It’s a crime what they are doing… No wonder we have no more pennies

This meeting is a total waste of time and taxpayers money. The only way to reduce crime in our community is through the court system. People with multiple convictions are routinely put back on the street even though the risk to reoffend is 100%. Put them in the slammer to await trial is a guaranteed crime reducer.

Dont they have to go to China to have this meeting

The Crime Severity Index is somewhat complicated, and as a result is misleading.

Homicides (Murder) (Even 1) would increase your CSI significantly. At the same time the total number of crimes are weighted according to severity, and then divided by the population of the City. This population number would only include actual residents of the City, so if you have a high number of people in the City but not actual residents then they would not be counted.

At the end of the day we know that we have a crime problem, and one of the causes is the lack of any serious incarceration for repeat offenders.

“Quesnel Mayor Mayor Sjostrom is eager to attend, “If we can come away from this session with even one idea that can be implemented to make a positive change, then this session will have been well worth it.”

Here’s one…..Stop letting criminals out of jail!
To simple a solution though hey?

*before they have truly paid for their crimes*

“At the end of the day we know that we have a crime problem, and one of the causes is the lack of any serious incarceration for repeat offenders.”

I think we need incarceration as the solution. The USA has done that …… and their crime rate far exceeds ours!!!!

When one looks at countries with low crime rates there they frequently also have low incarceration rates.

Go figure, eh??

Any more brilliant ideas??

Try this on for size:

“Crime-prone neighbourhoods entail rather high levels of economic related disadvantage or stress, as a result of below average income per household and high rates of unemployment”

One of the solutions?

Deal with the socio-economic issues of those “crime-prone neighbourhoods” and quit beating around the politically correct bus!

Bush …. no bus … :-)

LOL…hop on the bush Gus. No, wait that doesn’t work.

That is so cute the way some posters keep slamming the mayor. Ok, I get it, you don’t like the person in this role.
As usual, Gus has succinctly identified the cause of most crime and that is economic disparity.

it be ’cause we poor’.

Capitalism benefits the few on the backs of the many. There is little change from the days of slavery except now the slaves get to house and feed themselves with the stipends they are allowed by the elite.

Eagle1 will have a more verbose explanation of what I said?

“The only way to reduce crime in our community is through the court system”

Ummm, by the time it hits the court system the crime has already been committed . . .

“The only way to reduce crime in our community is through the court system”

What about unsolved crimes? Will the court system reduce those as well?

“The only way to reduce crime in our community is through the court system”

What about crimes that haven’t been detected or reported? Let me guess, we look to the court system for resolution?

Gus. Nice of you to compare the good old USA with a population of 350 Million to a small town in the middle of nowhere with a population of 75000 at best.

We all know (or should know) that the majority of crimes in Prince George are committed by the same people over and over.
How many criminals do you think actually exist in this area??

We also know that the criminal records of repeat offenders is not taken into account when sentencing takes place.

So obviously with a limited number of criminals committing crimes in an area where most of the criminals are (known to the Police) longer periods of incarceration would reduce the number of crimes committed.

This has already been proven in Williams Lake where they targeted repeat offenders, and pursued longer sentences.

So Gus, why are you not **smart** enough to figure this out.

Make crime undesirable..

No more rights for convicted criminals. Take away all things like internet, cable tv, wieght rooms etc. Make it a undesirable place to be. Follow the canadian guidelines for food and give them nothing more. give them shovels to clear elderly driveways and side walks.. in summer have them pick up trash etc.

Also have a set punishment for the crime.. not the old… oh he has a bad upbringing so he should get less.. what crap.. we all know what the law is.. we choose to follow or not follow.. if you dont follow the law to bad… its YOUR decision not to.

Time to let the innocent to have the law back on thier side. The time wasted in our courts is out and out stupid.. I ask any of you to spend a day in court and see what actually goes on.. you will be appauled.

A group of mayors getting together solves nothing.

“We all know (or should know) that the majority of crimes in Prince George are committed by the same people over and over.
How many criminals do you think actually exist in this area?”

Exactly!

All you need to do is some Facebook searches using our famous PG parasites names and you will find the majority are all friends. You will also be surprised at some of the people who are friends of these parasites.

You may also find some of them here…..

http://www.gangstersout.com/

Im sure the heated cell floors in the new rcmp building should deter crime somewhat.
Also 3 hot meals a day. I bet you the cells are wired for computers and tv as well. Just saying.

“We all know (or should know) that the majority of crimes in Prince George are committed by the same people over and over. How many criminals do you think actually exist in this area??”

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Really? So once they die there will be no more crime? Wait, you mean there was no crime before they were born?

How perplexing!!!!

What I find perplexing is that the more times chronic offenders appear before the judge the less time they get for a given offense- as per Global BC story a while ago.

That being said locking someone up and throwing away the key does nothing to break the cycle of poverty and crime.

There are areas in town where you can find generations of people who live in an world of crime drugs and welfare. Might be time to think outside the box and use a carrot and stick approach to help break the cycle.

What if the welfare rates were raised by a significant amount (say 25%) for a certain time frame for the sake of arguement 2 years. During this time there are some stings attached there would be an expectation that the person makes an effort to make themselves a more productive member of society with the end goal being employment. This could be anything from getting help with substance abuse, getting GED or furthering education in some other way or anything else that might help find work.

If the person gets an entry level position, the support may continue for another year or two as they get on their feet and begin the climb up the ladder. This would also help the kids in the house as they would see the going out to work is part of a normal day. If a genuine effort is not made then rates return to base level.

One other thing..the story in the citizen about the two guys who shared a room in the Ranch Motel and ate at the soup kitchen to make their cheque last but looking in the background every flat surface was covered in beer cams and smokes-gee at 30 bucks a flat and god only knows what a pack of butts costs these days wonder where the money goes. For them mandatory drug and alcohol counseling or no check and the province still gives free smoking cessation products. The one positive is most of their bucks filter back to Victoria via booze and butts taxes.

Bleeding heart liberal!

Currently, when a person is on income assistance, and they are not a person with disability, they are automatically classified as Employment Obligated.
They are then directed to an employment service such as Work BC where they are required to participate.

This is after a 3 week job search period before they even get an appointment.

So, a person has a job and loses said job. Then they run out of their EI claim, and have to apply to Income Assistance.
To even get an appointment they must do the 3 week job search with documentation to prove that they have been applying for jobs from more than 1 source.
Then they get to the IA appointment where they are directed to attend Work BC.

After this procedure is followed, and they have been accepted for IA, they get a whopping $600 per month for food, rent, transportation, utilities and clothing. While on IA, they cannot attend schooling without authorization. That authorization also has a process.

Why would anyone turn too crime?

So it looks like the people meeting to discuss crime reduction strategies include mayors, RCMP staff and people from the Ministry of Justice.

Do these people have expertise in the field? Are they criminologists? I would assume that the RCMP and the Ministry would have such people on staff, but are they going to be participating in these discussions?

If they are looking for ways to curb crime, perhaps they should look at the root causes of crime as a starting point. In these regards, I think gus, lonesome sparrow and Loki are on the right track.

Obviously one has to deal with crime and criminals once that illegal activity has taken place, but it would be asinine to ignore the realities of why people turn to crime in the first place. I mean really, there is an entire field of scientific study devoted to this subject. Would it not stand to reason that it’s a little more complex than “increase sentences”?

Personally, I think that’s part of the problem. It is complex. Governments don’t like complex. Complex is hard to measure. Complex is hard to fund. Complex is hard to measure. Complex is hard to explain to a populace that wants easy answers and simple solutions.

Can you imagine a government coming out with a 25 year plan on how to reduce crime, one that is linked to additional long-term investments in education, social services and job programs? Either can I. That wouldn’t go over well with the folks who just think that more jails are the answer or that adding one or two laws to an already lengthy criminal code will cure everything.

Hey, seeing as places with high incarcerations have high crime rates why don’t we turn the cop shop into a PAC and get rid of all the fuzz. This would result in a crime rate of zero right?

It is mostly based on how one was raised. You have to change society to change habits. Sure there are bad eggs everywhere, but for the most part people follow society’s norms

Pretty much everyone in Canada can get a check if they are over 16 even if they are not a citizen, may not be the amount they want but it is free; or at the very least a few minutes of their hard earned time in an office. Those who take advantage of the Ford pickups and snowmobile trailers someone has worked hard to acquire are not doing it because they are destitute and have nothing because of society. Just look at the firefighter situation – you think they needed a ‘jobs program’ or maybe ‘investment in education’?

It’s all capitalists fault. No crime under communism or dictatoships.

Hope I don’t need a sarc tag.

“Just look at the firefighter situation – you think they needed a ‘jobs program’ or maybe ‘investment in education’?”

===================================

Most likely not. As an aside, is that not what one would call a red herring?

I would think of this in the same way as I think of my investment portfolio, I expect a reasonable rate of return. Granted the risks can be slightly higher but so can the returns. To continue on the current path is just throwing good money after bad,my kids will be paying to support the kids of those my taxes are currently helping.

Using the example Loki gave I would guess that the person receiving $600 is making a token effort at best in the job search. If he had an opportunity to turn that into $800 through a concerted effort some of which could continue after he finds work(depending on income) I’m sure you would see more people working their way out of the welfare rut—and ease a little tax burden for me:)

To further expand on the stick, if the two guys in the Ranch motel do not make big changes in lifestyle then no more monthly check. Their rent would be paid directly to the landlord and they would get a weekly food basket that would include personal care products(not a voucher that could be easily sold.) Don’t like it then there might be greener pastures to the east(NMG is always saying how nice Ottawa is;)

bater- Who was your blog version of a mono syllabic grunt directed at?

Let’s throw a couple other stats out there:

– It costs $312 a day to house an inmate in a prison in Canada. That works out to $113,880 a year, 100% funded by taxpayers with little to no return on investment.

– While it depends on the Province and school, it would be fair to suggest that a 4 year university degree would cost a student around $50,000. One study I found shows that students only pay around 40% of the costs of education (with the rest being subsidized), so let’s say the cost of a 4 year degree is actually $125,000.

So, keeping someone in jail costs taxpayers $113,800 per year and the full cost of putting someone in university for a year would be $31,250 to the taxpayers.

We know that crime rates typically have an inverse relationship to education rates. We also know that higher education levels result in higher average incomes, higher tax revenues and greater economic growth within a country.

Could someone please tell me why we are investing more money to build jails in a time when crime rates are actually dropping and investing less money into education when tuition rates are increasing?

NMG. Once again you miss the point.

In a living society, people, live, die, come and go. For a City like Prince George the number of criminals would be in direct proportion to the population of the City. Some a little more, some a little less.

So if you were to look at the demographics of this City, compared to other cities of similar size you would be able to determine that a certain segment of society is involved in criminal activity. Giving stiffer sentences to people for assault and battery, robbery, home invasions, murder, etc; is what is needed, not to necessarily solve the individual persons problems (that would be a sidebar), but to protect society from the criminal element as much as possible.

That’s the point that so many people seem to miss. I am especially concerned about home invasions, and the inability of our seniors to protect themselves. Longer jail terms for these types of crimes are absolutely necessary. The protection of citizens from criminal assault is one of the foundations of a functioning society.

You and others can play word games about criminals, and solutions, however when someone kicks your door down, and comes at you with a knive, perhaps you could sit down with him and consul him about the error of his ways.

Don’t EVER confuse the need to rehab people in society, and the actual, real, and dangerous element that walks among us, and continues to do so, because we refuse to spend the money to get these people off the streets.

Citizens as much as criminals have rights, and its time the Government and the Police force ensure that our rights are protected.

Bleeding heart Liberals, an inefficient and ineffective Justice system, and a police force that cannot function correctly because of the breakdown of the justice system, and the refusal of the Government to take responsibility, creates a breeding ground for criminal activity.

Palopu, do you realize that crime rates have been steadily declining since the early 1990’s and that they are at their lowest level in 40 years?

In you can’t connect the dots, that means that less crime is being committed. That means that despite your apparent paranoia, you are safer today than you were last year, five years ago or ten years ago. This, even though you claim that we have:

“An inefficient and ineffective Justice system, and a police force that cannot function correctly because of the breakdown of the justice system, and the refusal of the Government to take responsibility”

It has nothing to do with being a bleeding heart or being tough on crime. Those are emotional arguments that man nothing. It comes down to looking at factual information and implementing genuine solutions to root problems.

Even you should be smart enough to realize that if you can help reduce crime before it occurs, that’s a better return on investment than chasing people around on the streets, running them through the court system and housing them in prison, all the while hoping you don’t have to do it again when they get out.

Whatever happenend to good ol banishment.