Chief Superintendent Says Northern Crime Session a Positive One
Prince George, B.C. – North District RCMP Chief Superintendent Rod Booth says he has come away from today’s meeting of northern community Mayors feeling “Positive.”
The session was arranged by Prince George Mayor Shari Green, who called together several of her counterparts from Williams Lake to Dawson Creek and west to Prince Rupert to talk about crime.
Northern B.C. has a much higher crime rate than the lower mainland even though the population base is much smaller in the north.
“The timing of this meeting was fortuitous” says Chief Superintendent Booth “In the new year, there will be a blue ribbon panel visiting several communities in the north as part of the consultation process in the development of a crime reduction strategy. “E” Division of the RCMP has also just submitted a strategy that calls for a collaborative approach, which calls for engaging all levels of government in dealing with the root causes of crime, and prolific offenders.”
Chief Superintendent Booth says the meeting provided the opportunity for the RCMP to share information on work that is already being done, as the issue is less of one about crime reduction as it is about improving a community’s wellness. “When a person has an addiction, that isn’t just a police problem, it’s a health problem too, so I think we generated a consensus today that we ( police) can’t do it alone.”
There is already good collaborative work going on says Chief Superintendent Booth, and while the crime stats in the North are on their way down, they are still out of proportion with the lower mainland. “There are a number of issues facing the north; a more transient population, poverty, dysfunctional families, lack of resources , so it’s very clear we (police) can’t do it alone.”
Comments
I agree with Chief Superintendent Booth, the Police can’t do do it alone. Health and social service support is also required.
The problem is if we increase funding in the north for more health care and social services, won’t that mean hiring more health care providers and social service workers?
I guess we, and the RCMP, are hooped because there is no way the Conservatives among us are going to want a bigger government!
Any other suggestions Mr. Booth?
I wonder if we will ever see a headline such as: “Chief Superintendent Says Northern Crime Session a Negative One” ;-)
So, people come away from ,any such meetings all positive. I have been to meeting like that as well and came from them with a totally new optimistic outlook.
Five years later I typically (not all the time) look back and ask myself “where did we go wrong?”.
If the participants had a good lunch, even I would deem the meeting successful. There was a lunch, wasn’t there??
People#1’s solution for all of society’s ills — throw more money at them.
“Northern B.C. has a much higher crime rate than the lower mainland  even though the population base is much smaller in the north.”
Aboriginals ?
Boon: That was uncalled for.
Hey Boon; they did a study about you, might want to read up on it!
http://www.exposingthetruth.co/low-intelligence-linked-racism/#axzz2jl99VwAS
It’s not the colour of people’s skin, a lot of crime is associated with poverty. Example: live in squalor, little to no education, can’t get a job, sell drugs! Example: live in squalor, little to no education, can’t get a job, sell yourself (prostitution). Plenty of studies out there linking crime to poverty.
Boon is correct in that is one of the differences in the north. Time we faced it. It is like any hurdle one has to overcome. If you do not understand the reason for the a condition, then you will not find the solution.
Give more, Boon put a question mark next to Aboriginals. I think that is very appropriate. Talk to professionals and you will get the same answer when it comes to health, death rates, poverty and virtually every other social condition. Those are simple facts.
The question, once we accept them without laying blame, is what do we do about it. How can we turn things around?
If one cannot speak about the truth and then deal with how to reverse the trend, it will simply get worse.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada-s-prison-population-at-all-time-high-1.2440039
Sapers gave his audience a litany of grim figures. He pointed out that close to a quarter of all inmates are aboriginal even thought they make up only four per cent of the population. The rate of incarceration of aboriginal women increased by 80 per cent in the past decade.
Sapers said the situation is particularly critical for black and aboriginal inmates.
From the annual report of Correctional Investigator of Canada Howard Sapers
âThese groups are over-represented in maximum security institutions and segregation placements. They are more likely to be subject to use of force interventions and incur a disproportionate number of institutional disciplinary charges. They are released later in their sentences and less likely to be granted day or full parole,â he said.
So, if the meeting was positive, I wonder if they talked about such negative findings that are really not all that new to people who deal with such issues every day.
If one cannot speak about the truth and then deal with how to reverse the trend, it will simply get worse.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada-s-prison-population-at-all-time-high-1.2440039
Sapers gave his audience a litany of grim figures. He pointed out that close to a quarter of all inmates are aboriginal even thought they make up only four per cent of the population. The rate of incarceration of aboriginal women increased by 80 per cent in the past decade.
Sapers said the situation is particularly critical for black and aboriginal inmates.
From the annual report of Correctional Investigator of Canada Howard Sapers
âThese groups are over-represented in maximum security institutions and segregation placements. They are more likely to be subject to use of force interventions and incur a disproportionate number of institutional disciplinary charges. They are released later in their sentences and less likely to be granted day or full parole,â he said.
So, if the local meeting was positive, I wonder if they talked about such negative findings that are really not all that new to people who deal with such issues every day.
Thought it was worth repeating. Maybe it sinks in after the second read … ;-)
“So, if the local meeting was positive, I wonder if they talked about such negative findings that are really not all that new to people who deal with such issues every day.”
People that deal with such issues every day, like the RCMP?
Yeah, I bet that was the major topic of the meeting, how many Aboriginals and Blacks there are up here contributing to the crime rate.
Aboriginals have always been here, particularly up here in the north, it is the one constant we have through out history. Never has crime been so high up here and in PG. So what has changed? Aboriginals were up here before crime rates were soaring, but now that it is soaring blame the Aboriginals and the blacks?
Look for another scape goat, for PG being the most crime infested city in Canada, and now in the top 20. Anyone notice how many more transients there are in PG coming and going in and out of the more than 1,800 camps in northern BC? Anyone know how high the crime rate is in Fort Mac which has one of the highest transient worker populations in Canada?
Non natives in Fort Mac outnumber the local Aboriginal population by at least 100 to 1, that place is BOOMING and so is the crime!
Get use to the higher crime rates here in PG, and in the North, not because of an Aboriginal population that has always been here, but because of something that has been changing, the substantial increase in the transient worker population.
http://www.winnipegsun.com/2013/03/11/69-increase-in-black-population-in-federal-prisons
So what has changed in the black population that sees such an increase in imprisonment rates of 69%? Maybe it’s just racial profiling, usually applied to Aboriginal people, but now being applied to blacks?
Until any of you experience walking into a large store like Zellars, only to have someone announce over the speaker system “security to section 11” then have a security person shadow and watch you while you browse for clothing items because of the colour of your skin, don’t tell me racial profiling doesn’t exist.. don’t get me started about racial profiling in our law enforcement system!
“Look for another scape goat”
Okay … I will. I will ignore the simple fact what socio-economic group is that makes up the local population of the provincial prison as well as the federal prisons.
You tell me why there is a disproportionate number of aboriginals. But hey, who cares, right. You like it that way, right? You want to just sit on your ass and do nothing about it.
Thanks for caring so much for your fellow humans that have gotten a raw deal and continue to get a raw deal.
Black population? No one to speak of here in PG. But, did you ever go to Toronto? Of course not. How about Montreal?
There is a black population in the Maritimes that has been there since the Civil war in the USA.
The new black population comes from the East Indies, Haiti, etc. Predominately a lower income group that fled their home country because they felt they could do better in Canada. Some of the have. Others have not.
I am not blaming any of them for what happened to some of them. It is simply a fact, and we have not been able to help them successfully.
I am interested in the country and the provinces and the cities helping them. For those who are not, that is too bad because that is not what I believe Canada to be about.
Make that West Indies rather than East Indies :-(
Are you suggesting that racial profiling is a key cause of the high incidence of aboriginals in jail?
Racial profiling is not the only kind od profiling that is done. There is gender, age and geographic district in urban areas profiling as well.
Are red cars that are “sports” models more likely to be stopped in some areas even though they are not speeding or driving erratically? It is something that people say.
If they are, then that is profiling.
From the State of Massachusetts which enacted laws to stop profiling practices for race as well as gender comes the following:
Chapter 228 of the Acts of 2000 requires that police departments in Massachusetts that have been shown to have racial and gender disparities in citations issued and/or searches initiated must collect additional data for all traffic stops for a period of one year, including the reason for the stop.
Following a study conducted by Northeastern University’s College of Criminal Justice and pursuant to his statutory authority, the Secretary of Public Safety and Security determined that a total of 247 of the 351 police departments in the Commonwealth must collect data for all traffic stops, including stops that do not result in a written warning, citation, or arrest.
http://www.mass.gov/eopss/law-enforce-and-cj/law-enforce/profiling-proj/data-collection.html
And if you do not think that there is age profiling as well, or even “habit” profiling such as stopping at some shelves in a store for too long and going back to those shelves again because you are wondering whether to buy an item for your friend’s birthday or not ….. or clothing profiling such as wearing “overly” loose or bulky clothes ……
People#1
Get off your high horse. You are not above pointing the finger of blame at many for the misdeeds of a few. Does firemen ring a bell?
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