New Domestic Violence Unit Ready to Roll
Solicitor General Mike Morris talks about the importance of working together – video 250News
Prince George BC- Prince George now has a dedicated provincially funded team focused on domestic violence.
With $100 thousand in funding the Prince George team will include an RCMP officer who is dedicated to domestic violence cases, a community based victim services worker and an embedded child protection worker.
The Prince George Detachment of the RCMP has responded to about 240 domestic violence calls so far this year, it is a situation not unique to Prince George, but Solicitor General Mike Morris says the number of calls throughout the North District region are disproportionately higher per capita than in other areas of the province.
Domestic Violence files in Prince George
The funding for this unit was first announced last spring, but those dollars were put towards start up costs. The Unit will have to apply for a grant from Civil Forfeiture dollars annually in order to keep operating.
Solicitor General Mike Morris says the issue of domestic violence is a personal one “Domestic violence is something that I grew up with” and reflected on his early days in training with the RCMP where professional actors would act out a domestic violence scene and the Mounties in training would have to interject and diffuse the situation. “That was a major hurdle for me to get over” said Morris “It conjured up all kinds of memories and it was a significant issue I had to get over.”
Morris says efforts to reduce domestic violence and protect its victims are not something that can be handled by just one agency “It’s the collaboration we need between not only my Ministry of Public Safety, but Health, education, children and family services and a myriad of other agencies are all necessary in order to provide that level of service that we need to break that cycle of family violence.”
Morris say it is important to not only protect victims, it is also important to deal with the perpetrators “We have to make the perpetrators really understand that what they’re doing is not normal activity. It is not acceptable in today’s society, and it’s not acceptable for children, or anyone we have in the community.”
Morris says the work to combat domestic violence will require a concerted effort from all sectors of the community “This work is urgent.” said Morris “”Collectively, if everybody’s oars are in the water, we can make a difference for the future of not only the people in Prince George, but the people in British Columbia.”
This is the 9th Domestic Violence Unit in the province and will officially start work on October 24th.
Comments
I don’t understand, on the National Crime Severity Index Prince George ranks third in the country, and according to McLean’s Magazine the third most dangerous city to live in, in the country.
So why is the provincial government putting financial resources into domestic violence when, according to the crime severity index, Prince George ranks high in the following areas;
#1 In Cannabis Possession; #3 in Child Pornography; #4 in Crystal Meth Possession; #2 in Cocaine Possession; #2 in Break and Enter; #2 in Total Drug Violations.
Perhaps our provincial government should spend some money, and dedicate resources, into areas that will actually reduce our high crime rates, but then again, that requires strategic thinking and making decisions based on evidence!
Sounds like your “oars” are out of the water
They are dealing here with violent crime severity and you are talking non-violent crime severity index
So Prince George being ranked #4 in Canada on the “Violent Crime Severity Index” is something to be proud about slinky?
So tell your cousins to smarten up !!
$100 Thousand doesn’t seem like a lot of money. Why should they have to apply for further funding through Civil Forfeiture in order to keep operating. If this is such a serious issue you would think that they would ensure that funding was available.
We also need to know what action they plan to take against those who commit domestic violence.
Is this a exercise in futility going into an election, if not, then lets get a little more serious about the issue.
Yes, an election coming up
It seems to be a consistent mantra when it comes to anything government does.
Why are they doing that? Why not something else? Why not before now? Why not more money?
It seems to me that Domestic Violence is most likely a major contributor to a lot of the other crime issues that are faced in our community an many others like it.
Clean, stable, non-violent homes that provide a safe environment for our most vulnerable generally won’t produce drug addicts, prostitutes, petty thieves, and more violent criminals. I know this is a generalization but I would suggest to you that unstable, violent, unsafe homes are the root of most crime in our society.
There are many statistical and scientific studies that link poverty to high crime rates more so than domestic violence. Yet we won’t see this government do anything about our poverty rate, which ranks among the highest in Canada.
You can “suggest” that domestic violence is a major contributor to crime all you want NyteHawwk, however that just your own personal theory which cannot be substantiated by any empirical evidence what-so-ever.
Check the pie chart above, 21% of violent crime is domestic violence. Guess they are going to start with that
Maybe they should kick out the “vagrants” as the NDP used to call them on perpetual welfare to raise the poverty rate, hey?
Maybe they should do “something” about the crime severity in BC cities specifically, as most all of the cities listed in the top 20 most violent crime infested cities in Canada are in BC. Heck even our capital (Victoria) is ranked 2nd in Canada for violent crime severity.
NyteHawwk. Your are in fact generalizing. Especially when it comes to domestic violence. As an example the rate of domestic violence by our police forces in Canada is purported to be 2-4 times higher than the general population.
I suspect that you would find domestic violence in all homes regardless of your so called safe environment homes.
I suggest that you do some reading on domestic violence and perhaps you might change your views.
This unit is headed by three women. Will this unit start out with a built in bias against men. A most everyday there are examples of violense initiated by women. Will this trio be objective?
Oh for heaven’s sake seamutt – hands down, you win the “dumb comment” award of the day. If gender composition leads to bias, every woman in this country could scream how educational / health / justice governance / life-in-general are not objective. Good grief.
Good grief considering the bias played out in the domestic violence mantra how is the comment dumb? Pay attention, good grief.
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