What ever happened to the CPAC office? I thought that was supposed to be helping the downtown situation.

So are we talking about foot patrols? Or cops circling the block in their cars drinking coffee?

BTW - Plenty of manpower is still being wasted on tax collection. How about 8 cops & a few less radar traps?

Just enforce the vagrancy laws already on the books and the downtown will be better off for it.

"The reality of it is that right now we have two people per watch who are dedicated to the downtown, so this new unit won’t take officers from other areas of the city."

No additional manpower from the looks of it. Does that mean the existing group was not able to do the job? Are there new ways of doing the job that will cause them to be more effective?

"a downtown policing unit is being established."

So those people "dedicated" to the downtown
were not working as a "unit"?

"she says the unit is modelled after the Kelowna experience"

So tell us what that model looks and feels like. We have two people per shift already "dedicated" to the downtown. Now we will get the same number of people, from the sounds of it, working in a "unit".

I see no new information in here.

It is spin. "See, something is happening. I am doing my job. I am making changes. It will be different than before."

I am sorry, I would like to know what those changes are other than a new name.

What ever happened to the CPAC office? That fact you are asking should answer your question..

Quit being such a negative nilly Gus....

With the old system it would have been just 2 members from the regular watch and they probably rotated so everyone took a turn. With the new unit the officers will be dedicated to the downtown and should be able to get to know the trouble makers (shop lifters, aggressive pan handlers and so on) and be more proactive as opposed to the current system which is completely reactive.

There is no spin, it's just a new way of doing things that has worked in other communities so PG is going to give it a try.

Put away your conspiracy theories and see if it works before you knock it down. The current system isn't working, time to try something new.

gus and bcracer appear to have trouble finding the Community Police Office (CPAC) downtown.

It is located at 575 Brunswick St. telephone 250-561-3366.

A second office is located on Austin oad in the Hart.

OH YA how bout setting up random seat belt checks with 20 officers standing around doing nothing im sure thats good use of there time

So the CPAC office is still there. Why was it put on 5875 Brunswick Street?

I was there for the opening several years ago. There was big fanfare. They got at least one car donated with their logo all over it. I was under the impression it was located there to be closer to the dontown and separate from the main station just a few blocks south so that they could deal with downtown problems by being close to them.

Streetwise, you wrote: "With the new unit the officers will be dedicated to the downtown" .... sounds exactly the quote in the article: "The reality of it is that right now we have two people per watch who are dedicated to the downtown"

I repeat myself once more. What is the difference between being "dedicated to the downtown" and "dedicated to the downtown"?

Is there anyone on here who can precisely answer me the following?

1. What is the purpose do CPAC downtown?

2. What was the function of the two officers per shift "dedicated to the downtown"?

3. Precisely how will the new downtown unit function differently frome those in item 1 and 2 above?

sorry "575" ... fingers sure are acting up today ... :-)

ICBC might be paying for random seat belt checks.

And how much time on the job does this McNeil guy have? I'll bet less than 7 years...I'll say it again, when you have Junior corporals with little service supervising baby constables then you have a recipe for disaster.

CPAC doesn't do law enforcement.
The will give you information on how to try and protect your property.
They will send someone out to give suggestions on how tomake your home safer and less prowler friendly and may other issues...
but they are paid city emplyees for the most part (3 women)...over seen by one police officer...Dare and Brave programs are also based there. So there is some good that comes from there. The programs they offer are for the most part benificial in some way or another.
Why are they located where they are? you will have to ask them that....
Are they a good bang for the city buck....
I'll leave that for you to decide...
I have my thoughts...and I am sure the three who operate it wouldn't like them..

I would also hope that this squad would also be concentrating on more than just shoplifting offences as pointed out by Ms Butterworthless.

Cpac used to be staffed by three police officers and some volunteers. A few years ago the City using there famous and well entrenched **smoke and mirrors tactics**. hired three civilians at full salary to work for Cpac, and the three officers were returned to general duties.

What this did of course was add 3 more employees to an already huge City staff, probably at a cost of $300,000.00 per year with benefits. In addition the officers were available for other police duties.

Wow, defeatism reigns supreme on this subject. Give it a chance will ya. They haven't even had a chance to roll it out and the haters are shooting it down. If I had a nickel for every time someone on this site complained about not having enough RCMP presence downtown...and now that there are people working to do just that...sheesh.
Let's get behind this just a little bit instead of belly aching and nay saying. I'm sure the downtown merchants and shoppers will find some benefit from the unit. I say right on.

I drove down George St. about 4 o'clock today, there are new faces downtown and they are not from here. Part of the problem is the Fire pit. lots of people hanging around there. The Fire Pit started out with government grants , now it seems to be government funded. Either way it needs to be moved over to first ave. I do not think more police downtown will make a difference.

Well this is a start in the right derection.

Also i think the city should proclaim a beat the crap out of a known drug dealer week. Be a heck of alot better than some that they proclaim now! :-)

Chairman Mao of China knew how to get rid of vagrants and druggies. They haven't returned.

Junco, you wrote "They haven't even had a chance to roll it out"

I would like to give them a chance to (using that same bureaucrat's language) "roll it out".

All I have been asking is what is it they are rolling out and how does it differ from their approach they have used to date. I thought that was a simple question and a question that should be answerable.

I noted from the recetn postings that since the unit will be educating as part of their duties, it sounds like CPAC, over a 4 or so year period, has not been able to reach everyone downtown yet in that effort. How much longer will it take? Can I see one of the CD's they have on fighting shoplifting?

How many break and enters do we hear about here? The four that involved my property in the past were in and out in less than 3 minutes. Alarm went. Security responded within 3 minutes. I was informed as soon as the alarm sounded.

Police came, took notes about inventory taken. Did nothing else. Said it was wasted effort for $5,000 to $10,000 in inventory since likelyhood of catching perpetrators was slim. Prime reason for report was for insurance purposes. Of course, they were never reported to insurance because the rates go up to offset the money recovered from insurance.

$3,000+ to repair damage.

Here is something for those who can afford technological aids in anti-shoplifting programs.
http://www.allbusiness.com/crime-law/criminal-offenses-property/12375699-1.html

Supertech wrote: "Chairman Mao of China knew how to get rid of vagrants and druggies. They haven't returned."

I see you are a China expert. Read this to update your knowledge about the drug culture in China. You can kill them off if you wish ..... at least you can try to ...

In a small country of 5 million or so you might even succeed.

http://ijo.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/51/1/98

"Drug crime in China is on an overall rising trend. Major drug crime cases are becoming more common, the types of drugs being trafficked are more diverse, and the smuggling and trafficking of drugs into the country and the smuggling of precursor chemicals out of the country have formed a bidirectional cycle. Drug crimes in China have also begun to show a conspicuous trend of internationalization."

Read all about the "People's war against Drugs" here: (does that slogan have a familiar ring to it?)
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle-old/389/china.shtml

Chairman Mao's spin doctors sure did a number on you Supertech..... :-)