Crime Reduction Catching On

By 250 News

Prince George, B.C. - The Acting Officer in Charge of the Prince George RCMP says police are making headway against crime and prolific offenders in the city.  Chris Bomford, who is in the process of being promoted to the rank of Inspector, says Crime Reduction Team efforts are starting to pay dividends. 

"I think there's been some remarkable successes by the teams out there and it's just shown that this is the way to go.  We have to change the way we're doing business in the community.  You can't just go out and grab bad guys and throw them in jail anymore.  It's not the answer.  We have to look for other solutions."

During the police budget presentation to council Wednesday, Bomford said RCMP have already seen a drop in calls for service in January, which allows officers to focus on creative strategies for tackling crime.  Bomford says the success of the Crime Reduction Team is catching on with others at the detachment.

"The whole team within the detachment is seeing this kind of success and they're becoming very enthusiastic and we're getting other community partners on board to participate and assist with this sort of initiative.  If the whole community pulls together, we're going to see some good results."

The amount to maintain the RCMP in Prince George and to get those results next year will  be just over $18.6 million dollars.  That's the 2009 Police Protection Budget city council approved Wednesday night.  The budget is based on a police force of 121 members at an estimated cost per officer of $125, 280 for salary, equipment, and support.  Last year, the city budgeted for 119 officers at an approximate cost of $18 million, but spent just over $17.5 million.

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