3rd and George Streets a Crime Hot Spot
Last year, Prince George RCMP had more than 41 thousand calls for service throughout the City, and as 250 News reported last week ( see previous story here) there have been increases in a number of types of crime compared to 2015.
But Supt. Brown says the area of 3rd and George Street is “over represented” when it comes to areas of the City where criminal activity is taking place.
While the local RCMP detachment has made gains in addressing criminal activity in the Queensway -17th Avenue area of the City, there is still a problem at 3rd and George Streets.
(graph courtesy Prince George RCMP)
Superintendent Brown says the main problem in the area is that there are marginalized, vulnerable people who need to be there to access services, but they are being preyed upon by drug dealers and thieves. While saying there needs to be continued work with a number of stake holders to protect those who are being victimized, he made his position very clear ” I cannot tolerate people dying from a drug overdose because that’s where drug traffickers can find their victims,. I can’t tolerate vulnerable people who owe drug dealers money and get beat up because they can’t pay their drug dealer at that location, I cannot tolerate people getting their businesses broken into and feeling unsafe in the area.”
He says he believes the City has demonstrated through its actions over the past couple of years that there are things that can be done to “repatriate” some areas that have fallen victim to high crime rates and calls for service. “I think the City can continue to support by ensuring bylaws are adhered to, ensuring that landlords are responsible to their tenants through applicable bylaws.”
Mayor Lyn Hall says there is already work underway with stakeholders in the City to address the concerns “We’ve got work to do. One of the reasons we embarked on the remedial action program was to address some of these hot spots.” Mayor Hall thanked Spt. Brown for the focus on the downtown area “We are seeing a resurgence in our downtown. People are interested in investing and developing and we’re going to see more of it in the next five months.” He added that the City needs to lead the charge “We need to be there, we need to work with other organizations who are working diligently to address these issues”.
“Unfortunately, we have a number of people in Prince George, who are just bad people” said Supt. Warren Brown. He did note there seems to be an influx of criminal element from the northeast of BC and Alberta. He pointed to higher volumes of stolen vehicles and break and enters as well as a recent counterfeit money case in which suspects are from that region.
Comments
Disable the free-wifi at courthouse?
However if you do that they will just look for other businesses or areas giving out free wifi and hang out in those areas?
well I guess city better start charging the businesses there for police protection and have cameras installed like they demanded of the Connaught Motor Inn
Hard to believe being that’s only 5 blocks away from the $60 million police station. Time to increase the foot patrols.
That might be a good idea. Having a dedicated foot patrol down there might be just the ticket.
Now if the courts would do their jobs and deal with the “bad people” appropriately then things might get better.
Harper tried to toughen up sentencing but our dear leader reversed that. Fine for him as he hides behind his wall with armed guards.
If these problems are being caused by drug dealers and thieves, shouldn’t they be arrested and removed from the area by the police? How is this a bylaw issue? So, instead of arresting them, we should issue tickets to homeless people for loitering? I guess we’ve officially given up on doing anything about problems we can’t tolerate.
No no no don’t you realize these people face challenges.
Surprise surprise! It has always been there and always will be. Time for the system to wake up and harass these low lifes, as they know the system is week kneed and can’t bother them and won’t do nothing about it. It will go on and on. Always the same rhetoric, personally I get tired of hearing about this age old problem. Guess that is why I don’t go downtown and will avoid this area because of the problem!
BEING PREYED UPON BY DRUG DEALERS AND THIEVES
hmmm Are they naive or what.. a lot of these drug dealers and thieves live in the area. Plus you have all these halfway houses in the area and the residents there are not all angels… just saying
We don’t go past Hwy 97 anymore, used to go to the Library not anymore after watching all the Characters hanging around.
The data presented is only reports of crimes. It is not crimes in itself. A far more useful statistic would be the number of arrests related to crimes in this area.
The problem is that there those with a vested interest in reporting as much as they can. For example, I believe Commonwealth made a presentation to NDIT where they laid out their strategy to buy land in this area, move or shut down the social services in this area and then profit. It was based upon this presentation that NDIT agreed to loan money to Commonwealth. I believe 250 News was the first site to break this news.
Commonwealth is one that has a clear motivation to report as much as possible. They haven’t had much success in shutting down or moving the social services–so they need to show an issue.
So, where is the line? What do you report and what do you not? If you see a homeless person outside on the sidewalk, do you report a drug deal–even if you didn’t actually see anything? Because of course, all homeless people are dealing drugs… If someone raises their voice, do you report an assault? If the goal is to push the reports as high as possible, then of course you do.
I believe Superintendent Brown is allowing himself to be manipulated when he does not report actual arrests–just the number of reports/files–numbers which can and I assert are being artificially increased.
I agree with you.
What is missing is the comparable statistic for the entire city.
We have had the Connaught singled out for the same reason. Now this one.
Crime does not go away if one takes one area at a time. It simply moves to another location.
Give us the whole story and why the RCMP is ineffective dealing with it.
The “bad” guys, eh? great terminology, NOT!
When the economy is down in an area of the province/country, people come home or to an area they have known before or one which has a source of income for their “business” or lifestyle. Nothing unusual about that. It is a common occurrence in this country and the rest of the world.
Paint the full picture for us and tell us how you are going to deal with it and why … in other words, where has it worked before?
Not every phone call is a file, but the numbers are over 3 1/2 files per day from the immediate area.
CDSA are drug offences – controlled drugs and substances Act which looks like it is on the rise, with about the same amount of violent crime offences – looks like 60-70 of each per year
Also looks to be over 700 CC (criminal code) offences and almost 200 property crime reports.
Not trivial data even in what you can see
As gopg2015 points out crime went down in Connaught and now is up here – are they just moving crime to a new location rather than solving anything?
Maybe if they built a Tim Horton’s outlet down there on 3rd and George, that might increase police presence?
Whoa BH!! Increase police presence? What is with the hard line approach all of a sudden? These are human beings, what needs to be done is social workers need to be dispatched with pamphlets or something like that.
Good ‘un!
90% of the calls down there are for people that are mentally ill and unstable. Stop treating them with kid gloves and lock them away, out of town somewhere. Since there seems to be no help for them, besides hanging out in Emerg wasting valuable resources, they should add another wing onto Baldy Hughes for these people.
East Hastings?
Getting rid of them will not get rid of them. Face the situation head on. Find out which jurisdiction in Canada has the least such social problems and find out what it is they are doing right.
Part of the problem is that places like the Firepit, the needle exchange, the native health centre are all located at that location. Perhaps if these “Services” were relocated to other areas, and not concentrated on one corner, the people causing all the crime would also be relocated and spread out. Look what happened when the PG Hotel closed down! The people that lived there, and their associates were spread throughout the city rather than being concentrated downtown. It made a huge difference virtually overnight on George st.
We can thank Murry Krause for 90% of these problems.
you forgot to thank our little miss “bike lane” as well. she is involved in the same stuff.
Frikken bike lanes…stupidest idea going….
Obviously if you provide the services they will come, even from far away. Years ago an idea was floated to build a large indoor facility where all the services are under one roof. It was proposed to be located away from the downtown core to somewhere non-residential like industrial First Avenue.
Of course that was frowned upon and never followed up on. In order to deal with reality, thinking ought to first of all become realistic, evaluating the past, the present, and the future! To keep doing the same unworkable thing while expecting a different result is unrealistic and an exercise in futility!
That is quite a startling percentage. How could such a man get away with causing 90% of these problems. Duffer do you have a report you that you can compile for us? Maybe share any facts that support that number. Sure would be an asset to the city.
Interesting that Murray keeps a river between his home and downtown.
All one has to do is go to this area.
Look at what is here.
It will become self explanatory why there are problems here.
Agreed! Look at all the frustration of the businesses located there, the hesitation of other venues locating there, the negative impact on visitors, the negative reputation P.G. has been getting, the astounding crime statistics and the added policing costs…it is time to take off the kids gloves and roll up the sleeves! There are enough smart people in charge to man up and get going on solving this problem once and for all!
This area is a catch 22..The social services, needle exchange, thrift stores, pawn shops,etc. attract a challenging/challenged clientel..so maybe it would make policing needs and solutions more obvious due to the concentration of problems at 3rd and George..But maybe it is not obvious as this area has been a problem for DECADES.
Our law makers/changers are too busy trying to get re-elected to deal with anything really important.
Do not forget the Courthouse is there as well, bringing people,their friends and supporters downtown, who may normally not go there. They wait around between court appearances and have nowhere to go and nothing to do.
Here’s one for yah!!!!! Instead of assisting all this crime, drugs, no good people, mental or otherwise why doesn’t City hall try a new approach by using the Medicine Hat Alberta model, and it’s working!
How did Medicine Hat solve its problem? Care to give more information?
So nice to see all the good stories of the glamorous individuals that are the out standing citizens of this city!
Having the LGBQ night club at 3rd and George doesn’t help the area. It’s a draw for all the degenerates not only from the city but the region as a whole. And as much as they preach tolerance they are probably the most racist establishment in the city. I would bet more than half the calls originate from the goings on with that establishment, but it’s just not pollitically correct to point this out.
I have heard of many issues that result from their uni bathrooms in the club causing conflicts that carry on out into the street. Really how can a night club not have a dedicated bathroom for women and not expect this to be a source of conflicts?
Do the other people in your congregation know you are an expert on a LGBQ night club ?
They figured it out after seeing him leaving the club at closing time 3 weekends in a row dressed to the nines in leather LOL
A while back a well known reporter that had some guts, wrote – Are we trying to be a hot spot for the homeless? Where are the homeless coming from? I discovered Chetwynd to the north, Takla Lake and Smithers to the West, Williams Lake to the South and East to the Alberta border. A good many street people prefer B.C. to Alberta because of much better living conditions here. Are we trying to make the central core of Prince George the place to be for the homeless of Central and Northern B.C.? What are other communities doing to look after these people? Over the years we have gradually seen the number of street people in Prince George grow. If you build it, they will come.
Get rid of the Fire Pit and move the Needle Exchange- not to a Residential area. That would help a lot.
We now have a buss to bring the homeless here free of charge, good plan.I could think of better ways to spend $50.000.
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