Prince George RCMP to launch “Queensway Initiative”
Prince George, B.C.- Residents in the Queensway and VLA area of Prince George are being invited to attend a special town hall meeting on Tuesday February 23rd to talk about crime issues in their neighbourhood.
The meeting is being hosted by Prince George RCMP Superintendent Warren Brown. “The plan is to give the residents and businesses in the area an opportunity to hear what the police have to say” says Supt. Brown. “What we can do is provide them with some crime stats in the area, our concerns, and some of the complaints we’ve heard from some of the residents. It’s an opportunity for the residents to voice some of their concerns and to work collaboratively together then to come up with a solution that gives everybody some responsibility.”
Superintendent Brown says his detachment knows there are issues in the neighbourhood, ” It has an over represented crime rate in that area for a lot of nuisance files, some property theft, theft from autos, there is some prostitution , there are some other drug related offences happening, so albeit that is not unique in the hub cities of our size, it is also not acceptable.”
But what is the plan to correct the problem?
He says there are a number of issues in the neighbourhood such as a lack of social housing, poverty and addictions, areas which are not within his jurisdiction “My core responsibility is public safety, so, again just simply arresting people and putting them in jail pending trial isn’t the answer, so this is why we are having a consultation in the area to see where the gaps are and to identify some of the root causes to this.”
Once the issues have been identified he is hopeful that will be a first step towards engaging other stakeholders and agencies which do have responsibility for dealing with the issues.
He says there are criminal acts taking place all over the City, and he simply doesn’t have the resources to focus all the attention in one neighbourhood “It’s pretty clear when I came to the City late last year saying ‘give me more members’. I could use 50 more members, but that’s not realistic. So the community has to accept some of this responsibility and we have to find, or create a solution, other than just a police response.”
The first step towards developing a solution is a townhall meeting with concerned Queensway and VLA residents. That meeting is taking place 7 p.m. on Tuesday February 23rd in the Annex at City Hall.
Comments
Everything that’s old is new again. Seems I’ve heard all this before. But- I can remember PG back to 1960!
Is Queensway and 20th in the problem area? (I am buying in that area and never though about crime there until now.)
Just a friendly suggestion….you might want to go to the Community Policing office and ask to see their B & E map before you buy…. you might be surprised at what you see
Why do we have to ask? Why is this information not made available in annual reports to the City and available on RCMP/City web sites?
In the USA one can get such information readily on the internet.
In Canada, one can get median income data from Census Canada categorized by postal code. There is a strong correlation between area income and area crime rates.
Here is an example of such information researched by the media. Not sure if it the con media or the lib media …. just thought I would mention that to those on here who are looking for biased reporting from one or the other side of the political spectrum.
globalnews.ca/news/370804/income-by-postal-code
Will do. Thanks for the tip!
I don’t think there was much going on in the condos (if that’s where you are headed) and I’m sure there you wouldn’t have a robbery issue. I used to live about a block away from them and we left because of the crime problem – vandalism, cars broken into, homes broken into, stabbings, a murder. And yes, you see the dealers and the prostitutes pretty regularly. I miss being able to walk into town and the park, but I felt like it was only a matter of time before someone broke into the house.
Hartly 2 I would recomed you drive Queesway around midnight. I used to see all sorts of things of my way home from afternoon shift and that was just Mon to Fri.
If you buy in the condo complex, should be safe there being a secured complex.
Lets see whats on the menu…crack,meth,junk,Oxy,fentys or maybe a Hoe !!it ain’t gonna go away like the smell……
Ruggles street
1st and Tabor area
Queens way
The VLA
Ahbu street
Westwood
Oak and pine streets
All the above listed have been or are known trouble areas with common theme being duplexes, low rent housing and a certain minority group living in high numbers in these areas
Nice to see the police being pro active on this issue. There is no doubt that in order to make any progress the community has to be involved.
Prince George has enough problems just keeping our head above water. We need to get a handle on this crime issue, as it is one of the reasons that people avoid coming, or leave this town,.
I think the new Superintendent is on the right track.
We can’t get a handle on crime when the politicians don’t understand policing. That’s a never ending issue, frustrating from a policeman’s view to say the least. We always fund policing to adequate, never beyond. Warren Brown and others have told council what they need but without complete cognizance it will never happen.
They will not solve any of the crime issues without some sort of successful approach to the problem of addiction, and mental health.
I applaud any effort however, and meetings that invite ideas from the general public are sure to produce (some) positive results.
Bravo.
metalman.
A roving group of 50 members going to trouble spots around B.C. would be a great approach to cleaning up some areas. Cost sharing by cities and province, I as a taxpayer would go for that any day.
I think I agree, Griz, but would the troubles relocate to another spot?
metalman.
Sure, to Alberta, soon as we lower the welfare rates.
Do not paint the whole are with the same brush. The prostitution is a lot better , and do not forget it was sent to Queensway by the City. I would love to buy a new condo in the area , you can go out your door and go for a walk in the Park. Low income housing , what is the Government housing on 20th is that not low income housing?? It would be wonderful to relocate the troubles to another spot ,but the police want to keep the trouble under one roof. The big drug rehab is a great thing and has helped a lot of people BUT what happens to the people that are sent here and drop out ?? do they go back to where ever the came from ? or do we get more trouble?
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