B.C. launches $5M public safety program to crack down on street crime

The B.C. government has unveiled $5 million in new funding for an initiative to crack down on property crime and street disorder.

The province says the new Community Safety and Targeted Enforcement (C-STEP) program will give police more tools to respond to street crimes, including shoplifting, theft and property damage.

Minister of State for Community Safety and Integrated Services Terry Yung, a former Vancouver police officer, said the program was a result of listening to communities and police around the province.

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“We heard loud and clear what they wanted, and street-level crime such as theft, robbery, undermining businesses and making it sometimes untenable for them to be around. For so long it has been going on and this is not acceptable,” he said.

The program is being administered by the RCMP, which opened to funding applications from police agencies around the province two weeks ago.

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The province says C-STEP funding will be available to support increased police patrols targeting street crime like open drug use and trafficking, disturbances and public intoxication, and to work with businesses and social services on co-ordinated plans to pre-emptively address street disorder.

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“We are not going to be prescriptive in where the funding is going to go, We want the police agencies to come up with operational plans, requests, and expect a matrix to find out where this money is going to address the most pressing challenges facing them on the street level,” Yung said.

He said the program will supplement the existing Specialized Investigation and Targeted Enforcement, which targets repeat violent offenders.

The initiative comes as concerns about street crime and disorder make headlines around the province.

Retailers have reported upticks in violent shoplifting incidents, with London Drugs recently saying it was considering shuttering its location on the edge of Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside.

Earlier this week, the City of Williams Lake said it was considering declaring a state of emergency to deal with the problem, while residents of Nanaimo have staged repeated rallies over what they say is spiralling public disorder.

Williams Lake City Councillor Scott Nelson said the community appreciates the province is finally giving more attention to the issue.

But he said the new program won’t address what he believes is the root of the problem: people with untreated mental health and addictions on the streets.

“The announcement they made today is helpful, but it doesn’t solve the real problem of getting these people the right services and the right help for an extended period of time, and I think that’s what all municipalities are asking for,” he said.

“They’ve refused to put the money into it, they’ve refused to make the appropriate involuntary beds … we’ve probably got 15-20 in Williams Lake that shouldn’t be on the streets.”

B.C. is in the process of rolling out its involuntary treatment program, with the first beds open in the South Fraser Pretrial Centre, and a second set due to open soon for people who aren’t already in the criminal justice system.

The program is, however, being welcomed by business groups and the B.C. Association of Chiefs of Police.

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“This initiative reflects a clear recognition of the urgent public-safety challenges facing downtown cores, including the growing impact of non-violent and repeat offenders on small businesses,” said Jane Talbot, president and CEO of the Downtown Vancouver Business Improvement Association.

“Any step forward is important, and we see this as a significant and encouraging move in the right direction.”

Asked if the money would be enough to tackle property crime across the province, Yung described the $5 million as a “beginning investment.”

He added that the province continues to advocate for “meaningful bail reforms” promised by Prime Minister Mark Carney’s new Liberal government.