Mayors representing B.C.’s biggest communities are calling on the provincial government for more support to stop repeat offenders amid an increase in property crimes.
“Our residents, frontline police officers and our Councils are frustrated. We implore the Province and for your Ministries to move forward quickly on tangible solutions,” the letter, written by the BC Urban Mayors Caucus and obtained and released by the BC Liberals on Tuesday, says.
Since 2017, there has been a 118 per cent increase in the amount of time the province takes to review files it receives from police, and a 75 per cent increase in the rate of the BC Prosecution Service choosing to not charge suspects based on police cases, according to the letter.
For example, the letter says, the Abbotsford Police Department currently monitors 81 prolific offenders — a 33-per-cent hike from 2019. A prolific offender is someone with between 10 to 29 criminal convictions.
In Vancouver, the 40 “super-chronic” offenders have an average of 54 convictions each.
“Our police agencies also flagged a significant increase in the number of offenders routinely breaching conditions without consequence while on bail and failing to appear in court without consequences,” the letter reads.
The mayors called for stricter control, such as stronger bail conditions, and stricter consequences, as well as stronger consideration for “maintaining public confidence in the administration of justice” in bail and charge assessment policies.
Another request is to increase investment in the prosecution service and implement community courts in more municipalities.
“We want to work with you to find meaningful solutions to improve these numbers,” the letter reads. “B.C. needs a wholistic multi-ministerial government approach that tackles crimes.”
The BC Liberals focused on the issue in Question Period on Tuesday.
Attorney General David Eby says he met with the urban mayors council on December 17 and the letter was a response to a request to provide additional details about what was happening in individual communities.
“I think anytime that someone is a victim of crime, whether it’s property crime or violent crime, it’s a really serious and profound impact on them and their feelings of safety. But it’s also important as legislators that we look at provincial trends,” Eby said in the legislature.
“So 2020 was the lowest level of property offences provincially based on population since at least 2011 and the lowest overall number of offences since 2013.”
Eby says the pandemic has dramatically changed crime patterns, especially concentrated in downtown areas where people have not been.
Police have also noted the crime has moved away from residential areas.
The BC Liberals contend the government should be doing more to manage the issue.
“The attorney general has tools at his disposal that he could use to reduce these troubling numbers — but he’s choosing not to use them,” Opposition House Leader Todd Stone said.
“We know that Minister Eby has a history of playing hardball with local governments, so it’s no surprise the mayors have been forced to plead with him in private out of fear of retribution.”
The communities providing repeat offender data includes Abbotsford, Burnaby, Coquitlam, Kamloops, Kelowna, Nanaimo, Prince George, Richmond, Victoria and Vancouver.