I doubt that Council or Administration had the time or the wherewithal to look into the needs of policing in Prince George in any detail,.

This is a complex problem, and we need to have a close look at how we are presently using our police and whether or not we are getting value for dollars spent.

As an example having more police available for traffic enforcement on the surface sounds good, however the statistics for policing and the crime rate in BC Cities do not include traffic violations,. So why would we bring on more police for traffic offences when the issue at hand in Criminal Code Offences,.???

We should keep in mind that the City receives money back from the Provinces for their share of the traffic tickets issued per annum. Perhaps we want to write more tickets to offset the cost of policing??

In any event we really need to come to grips with crime in this City and come up with some solutions to have it reduced.

Adding more police to a City with a stagnant or declining population, and with a reduction in Criminal Code Offences doesn’t seem right.

Perhaps the City needs to do some sort of analysis of our policing with a long term view of finding solutions.

I think some people are forgetting just how much our driving accidents are costing us in ICBC premiums, health care costs and suffering to the victims and families.
Personally, I would like to see a friendly driving town and not have to think about someone doing something stupid to impact me or members of my family. Or anybody else for that matter. Playgrounds zones are routinely ignored by a majority of the motorists, school zones are another and then we have so many accidents at intersections, its ridiculous. Stop signs and red lights are routinely ignored as well.
I think there needs to be a drastic overhaul of our driver licensing system, so that people really know how to drive before they get a license and then have penalties commensurate with infractions. We can’t have that without good enforcement.
I say more power to the traffic section and just wish there were about three or four times as many of them out and about.

Do we really believe that with the approval of these three officers they will boost the traffic members .. Let’s look at the past as the past usually helps tell the future.. Has anyone asked the question to the current management at the local RCMP Detachment how many police officers are assigned to traffic on there organizational chart compared to officers on the road.. Speaking to one of the local traffic officer he states that the past Sgt who transferred to Highway Patrol has just been replaced by a member from Alberta and is expected to arrive sometime in February however upon his arrival the Cpl currently doing the job will transfer to a general patrol… Do we again .. Not the way I would do math… Also they have four members assigned to traffic and if you do the math there is no way they can cover this City for traffic duties.. Interesting.. I’m supportive to the increasing they use the increase to do what they say and increase traffic officers within the City and not cover up to add members to the mall areas of town that are already over served with..City Crews, bicycle patrols, Drug enforcement, .. Just to name a few.. At 100,000.00 for each RCMP officer on average all I ask is tell us the truth on where the members, we are adding, will be going and don’t hide it in a area that will be easy for the general population to swallow.. Traffic matters effect us all.. As for Cpl Douglas repeatingly telling us all police officers do traffic just drive by a police car and do something wrong chances are you won’t be stopped as the general population of police officers not assigned to traffic will not stop you.. Well Mr Mayor can you ganantee us these members will be assigned to traffic as stated here or is it just the smoke show again…… On right you have no real control over what the current management of the RCMP does with the officers given .. How about providing us with the organizational chart with all the member positions we are paying and where the members are actually assigned.. My bet is you won’t be able to get.. Please prove me wrong.. Maybe this News site can request that information and tell us … Freedom of information Request if required by why would we need that we are paying and should be entitled .. I know my work site knows where each member is assigned any given day and is able to provide at an instance…. Just saying…

With this sycophantic bunch in office, future RCMP demands are a given

If I get this right, we had:

1. a proposed increase of 3% over last year’s tax collection

2. last year’s included a 2% Canada winter games levy which was to be removed after 2015. I have not seen that specifically referenced as being removed and the comparative figure for 2015 being 2% less that the total tax levy for 2015.

3. now another 0.21% increase for an expensive police force we have no control over housed in a very expensive building we have to pay for, including very expensive maintenance in future years.

So, unless we get some better explanation, it looks to me like we are seeing an increase of 5.21% over our base, pre-winter games levy for 2015.

BTW, I think that we should keep some of these figures easy to remember. Instead of $184,912, why don’t we just say $185,000 to keep it simple. What does that give the RCMP as a total increase of their 2015 budget? Are they getting a disproportionate amount of increase compared to other services?

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I agree with Palopu. We are simply not in a position to evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of the RCMP. Perhaps we can monitor Richmond’s pending review of whether to go to a true municipal police force.

These are the existing municipal police forces
• Vancouver Police Department
• West Vancouver Police Department
• New Westminster Police Department
• Delta Police Department
• Abbotsford Police Department
• Port Moody Police Department
• Victoria Police Department
• Oak Bay Police Department
• Saanich Police Department
• Central Saanich Police Service
• Nelson Police Department

getagripreally wrote: “Also they have four members assigned to traffic”

I used to know the Sargent in charge several years ago. That number has not changed since then.

I think such practices as rolling through stop signs is now almost universal in BC as well as Washington State. We know someone who has a retail store on the corner of a main T intersection in a small community which has an all ways sign prominently placed and some caution signs added. Sometimes, when there is not much business, which is frequent, we sit there and watch the cars just drive right through either straight or turning.

With ease, the tickets coming from that one intersection alone would pay for one full time police officer including court/administrative costs.

Then there is the other side of the coin. How frequent are the crashes at the corner. I do not recall one, although let us just give them a couple year in case there is some doubt. Since the speed limits are 40km/hr and they might slow down to 30km/hr the crashes are just fender benders …. the cars in the community have lots of those visible since a significant number of the population likely have inadequate insurance to afford to fix the dents.

It’s hard to believe we have a shortage of officers when there had to be at least a dozen marked cars and who knows how many unmarked cars respond to the call in college heights today. IMO this money would have been a better investment in crime prevention. It takes a balanced approach for crime reduction to be effective.

Palopu, the RCMP have their new castle and hiring more officers would seem to be little more than Empire building!

I wonder if this organization is as bad as our Fire Department and City Hall, with 1 manager for every 2 regular employees! Perhaps 1 to every 2 is a bit of an exaggeration but it does seem like we are just a tad bit too top heavy!

Posted on Monday, January 18, 2016 @ 10:52 PM by gitterdun with a score of 1

It’s hard to believe we have a shortage of officers when there had to be at least a dozen marked cars and who knows how many unmarked cars respond to the call in college heights today. IMO this money would have been a better investment in crime prevention. It takes a balanced approach for crime reduction to be effective.

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The dude stole a TV! TVs are very, very important.

Yes axman it was only a TV but a weapon was also involved.

GoPG2015 – from the City’s published financial plan, the answer to your question is below:

“A taxation increase of $3,097,573 is required to maintain core service levels and funding for contractual commitments. In addition, a $700,000 taxation increase is proposed to the Snow Control Levy; $965,158 to the General Infrastructure Reinvestment Fund, $18,258 to the Road Rehabilitation Levy; and a reduction of
$2,081,884 for the elimination of the 2015 Canada Winter Games levy. The combined total taxation increase for 2016 is proposed to be 3.00%, which includes an estimated offset of $3,356,353 in non-market change tax revenue.”

So, the police increase will be added to this.

Posted on Tuesday, January 19, 2016 @ 6:41 AM by Hammer24 with a score of 4

Yes axman it was only a TV but a weapon was also involved.

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Yes, I was being facetious.

On occasion, I read the court docket report in the Citizen and shake my head in disbelief. There is seldom any substantial punishment doled out. I see a lot of $100 victim surcharge punishments. What are the chances this guy is out on the streets at the end of the day today? Pretty good I’d guess.

No wonder that axman is looking for a bullet proof vest. sorry we don’t need them in Cow Pie City so I cant help you.
Cheers

We wouldn’t need extra officers if the courts would stop letting prolific offenders go free.

Awesome, 3 more tax collectors, (ticket writers) on the payroll for you up there. Prolific offenders should be taken care of by vigilantes.