By Cheryl Jahn

Northern Homicide Investigation Unit coming?

May 3, 2021 | 10:57 AM

PRINCE GEORGE – The City is looking to pull together its own Northern BC Integrated Homicide Unit. The RCMP detachment’s Serious Crimes Unit handles homicides within the city but the City would like to see a dedicated Homicide unit like the Integrated Homicide investigation Team that operates out of the Lower Mainland.

In a letter to the North District RCMP, which covers the top two-thirds of the province and oversees more than 40 detachments, Acting City Manager Walter Babicz writes: “With the varying sizes of communities served by North District RCMP and the already substantial police service expenditure impacting municipal budgets and taxpayers, we request that federal and provincial governments work with RCMP management to develop a fair funding formula for an IHIT model to be established in Prince George in order to serve northern BC communities.”

As was presented to Council recently, it would save the City money. Under the current funding model, the cost of policing for communities with populations over 15,000 is split between the municipality and the federal government, with the municipality paying 90% of the cost and the federal government covering the remaining ten percent. That includes those officers in Serious Crime. However, with the Integrated Homicide Investigation Unit, the cost of that unit is split 70/30, meaning the federal government picks up 30 percent of the bill. It would be expected that, should there be a Northern BC Integrated Homicide Investigation Team, 20 percent of the salaries of eight Serious Crimes Officers at the Prince George Detachment would be picked up by the federal government.

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But, while the cost savings would be great, it is about broadening the scope of resources.

“Currently within municipalities with larger populations, homicides are investigated solely by that detachment. So if you have a couple of incidents within a short time frame, they can quickly become overwhelmed,” explains Supt Shaun Wright with the Prince George RCMP. “

So this essentially a concept of pooling resources across a region to deliver better capacity.” He says, while this is just a preliminary concept, “getting the ball rolling,” Supt Wright believes there is an appetite for such a unit.