Challenges for policing moving in 2020
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PRINCE GEORGE – The city’s top cop made a lengthy presentation to Mayor and Council last night. Superintendent Shaun Wright told Council the “most significant” statistic from 2019, and one that will likely continue into 2020, is the number of calls for service. That number has steadily increased over the past five years.
However, the number of prisoner counts, meaning the number of prisoners held in cells, has dropped for a couple of reasons. The first is that Crown Counsel is not approving charges and the offender is released from custody on a promise to appear. The second reason is that, if the individual has consumed something other than simple alcohol, it earns a trip to University Hospital of Northern BC as opposed to cells. However, Supt Wright was quick to point out that the inclusion of a sobering centre for the community “would reduce those numbers even more.”
The downtown has been top of mind for 2019 and will likely continue into this year. In fact, he takes has no issue will harm reduction efforts but says some social agencies are practising harm reduction without any end goal, which is ultimately treatment.
