Policing bill comes up short
Times Colonist Editorial
October 28, 2014
If the B.C. government wants to ensure the effectiveness of integrated policing units, adequate funding would help. But the better approach for Greater Victoria would be to insist that the area’s seven police departments become one regional force.
The government has introduced legislation that would force municipalities to participate in integrated policing units. Justice Minister Suzanne Anton could not say if the legislation included a formula that would set out how many officers or how much funding municipalities would have to contribute.
Inter-departmental co-operation is a good idea, and it works. Ten integrated policing units operate across Greater Victoria and Vancouver Island, including the Vancouver Island Integrated Major Crime Unit, the Integrated Road Safety Unit and the Mobile Youth Services Team.
But the Regional Crime Unit, which has had considerable success in apprehending the region’s most prolific property criminals, will be disbanded at the end of the year. The unit started to come apart when Victoria’s police department withdrew in 2009. Other municipalities followed suit, and the unit was left with the participation of Saanich and the RCMP.
One of the weaknesses of the integrated approach is its voluntary nature, but forcing unwilling municipalities to participate won’t make things better. The reason for the unit’s collapse is that budget restraints forced individual departments to consider their own finances first. If the province is forcing municipalities to participate, it should provide the funding to do so.
The province said its legislation is in response to recommendations from Wally Oppal, who has served on both the B.C. Supreme Court and the B.C. Court of Appeal. Oppal headed a commission of inquiry into policing in B.C., and his 1994 report called for more regionalization of police services, but stopped short of recommending amalgamation of police departments.
After conducting the missing-women inquiry, which closed in 2013, Oppal changed his mind.
“I recommend that [the] provincial government commit to establishing a Greater Vancouver police force through a consultative process with all stakeholders,” he wrote. He extended that same recommendation to Greater Victoria.
Robert Gordon, the director of the school of criminology at Simon Fraser University who contributed to the missing-women inquiry, has worked as a constable in several police services abroad. He said that when he came to B.C., he was astounded that Vancouver and Victoria were the last metropolitan areas in Canada not to be served by single police forces.
Gordon said the way policing is done in the two regions has evolved by circumstance, not by design, and doesn’t make much sense.
It seems logical that policing the region with one department, rather than seven, would be better in many ways. What seems logical, though, is not always supported by facts. It’s a decision that should be guided by a thorough study.
But the province has no appetite for such a study. Anton is adamant that the government won’t force police departments to amalgamate. That leaves it up to the municipalities, and one holdout could ensure it never happens.
Crime ignores regional boundaries, yet boundaries and jurisdictions get in the way of effective police work. A patchwork of police departments in a region lends itself to communication failures, as was evident in the Robert Pickton serial-murder case on the mainland and the Peter Lee murder-suicide case in Oak Bay.
Individual police departments are answerable to local municipal governments, and as Victoria Police Chief Frank Elsner has said: “There comes a point when we have to look after ourselves. We have to make sure we leave the lights on at home.”
But we should look at all of Greater Victoria as “home.” The province should stiffen its spine and step in.
© Copyright Times Colonist
Times Colonist Editorial
October 28, 2014
If the B.C. government wants to ensure the effectiveness of integrated policing units, adequate funding would help. But the better approach for Greater Victoria would be to insist that the area’s seven police departments become one regional force.
The government has introduced legislation that would force municipalities to participate in integrated policing units. Justice Minister Suzanne Anton could not say if the legislation included a formula that would set out how many officers or how much funding municipalities would have to contribute.
Inter-departmental co-operation is a good idea, and it works. Ten integrated policing units operate across Greater Victoria and Vancouver Island, including the Vancouver Island Integrated Major Crime Unit, the Integrated Road Safety Unit and the Mobile Youth Services Team.
But the Regional Crime Unit, which has had considerable success in apprehending the region’s most prolific property criminals, will be disbanded at the end of the year. The unit started to come apart when Victoria’s police department withdrew in 2009. Other municipalities followed suit, and the unit was left with the participation of Saanich and the RCMP.
One of the weaknesses of the integrated approach is its voluntary nature, but forcing unwilling municipalities to participate won’t make things better. The reason for the unit’s collapse is that budget restraints forced individual departments to consider their own finances first. If the province is forcing municipalities to participate, it should provide the funding to do so.
The province said its legislation is in response to recommendations from Wally Oppal, who has served on both the B.C. Supreme Court and the B.C. Court of Appeal. Oppal headed a commission of inquiry into policing in B.C., and his 1994 report called for more regionalization of police services, but stopped short of recommending amalgamation of police departments.
After conducting the missing-women inquiry, which closed in 2013, Oppal changed his mind.
“I recommend that [the] provincial government commit to establishing a Greater Vancouver police force through a consultative process with all stakeholders,” he wrote. He extended that same recommendation to Greater Victoria.
Robert Gordon, the director of the school of criminology at Simon Fraser University who contributed to the missing-women inquiry, has worked as a constable in several police services abroad. He said that when he came to B.C., he was astounded that Vancouver and Victoria were the last metropolitan areas in Canada not to be served by single police forces.
Gordon said the way policing is done in the two regions has evolved by circumstance, not by design, and doesn’t make much sense.
It seems logical that policing the region with one department, rather than seven, would be better in many ways. What seems logical, though, is not always supported by facts. It’s a decision that should be guided by a thorough study.
But the province has no appetite for such a study. Anton is adamant that the government won’t force police departments to amalgamate. That leaves it up to the municipalities, and one holdout could ensure it never happens.
Crime ignores regional boundaries, yet boundaries and jurisdictions get in the way of effective police work. A patchwork of police departments in a region lends itself to communication failures, as was evident in the Robert Pickton serial-murder case on the mainland and the Peter Lee murder-suicide case in Oak Bay.
Individual police departments are answerable to local municipal governments, and as Victoria Police Chief Frank Elsner has said: “There comes a point when we have to look after ourselves. We have to make sure we leave the lights on at home.”
But we should look at all of Greater Victoria as “home.” The province should stiffen its spine and step in.
© Copyright Times Colonist