Penticton, B.C.’s mayor is reassuring residents of community safety in the aftermath of a late-night attack on an 82-year-old veteran.
“We understand that some people feel a little perturbed by what has happened but we are doing everything that we can to help the province to make Penticton a safer place,” Mayor Julius Bloomfield said Friday.
He added that he’d been to see the victim of the attack, Jim DeMarce, and he is on the mend. DeMarce was headed home from the Penticton Legion one night when he asked four people to move off the sidewalk, and he was assaulted.
“I went and checked on him a couple of days ago and he is recovering well, and he’s in good spirits, as he normally is,” Bloomfield said.
DeMarce has reported the attack he endured but he said he was loath to do so.
He referred to what many are calling a “catch and release” system as the reason for his apprehension. He said people see suspects arrested and then released shortly thereafter, seemingly undeterred by penalties that are never forthcoming. It’s an issue blamed on a court backlog.
“We acknowledge Mr. DeMarce’s position on catch and release and wouldn’t disagree with that,” Bloomfield said.
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“I know that we are concerned about the number of cases before the courts and in provincial courts in Penticton. And we are advocating for a better system and a better approach within the court system for dealing with some of these problems.”
That said, Bloomfield noted that crime is trending in the right direction, according to recent figures from Statistics Canada. Notably, the Crime Severity Index from StatCan pegged local crime at 232.58 in 2019, and that number had fallen to 180.38 in 2023.
“There’s no silver bullet to solve these problems of (homelessness and addiction)…. Crimes are a symptom of the issue,” Bloomfield said. “If we want to reduce the symptoms, we have to deal with the issue and that is what we’re working towards with the province.”
Supt. Beth McAndie added that she is aware of the catch-and-release concerns but reporting is still key in addressing safety.
“That’s something I’ve heard before and my response to that is we can’t stop reporting these types of incidences because we don’t think they’re going to go anywhere,” she said.
Incidents of this kind don’t happen regularly and McAndie said the police are committed to making sure the community feels safe and supported with their local RCMP.