Prince George Business Group wants answers

It reads: “It has been brought to our attention on multiple occasions by many members of the RCMP who have attended to crimes against our businesses, that our local Crown Counsel is not pursuing charges to prosecution in relation to criminal code offenses committed against our business member’s properties and premises. These range from shoplifting to break and enter, theft, vandalism, indecent acts of sexual nature, human defecation & urination, open drug use and sales thereof. These all fall under the Criminal Code and when we go through the efforts of obtaining video evidence, alarm company reports of break and enter on our premises, we expect our police agencies to do their job. We assume that being done, our Provincial Prosecution service will follow suit and pursue charges for the offences in question to the courts for trial.”

And the group got a response.

A letter from the Regional Crown sets out case law and the circumstances the Crown follows once a crime is forwarded for prosecution: “…it is the responsibility of Crown Counsel to “examine all relevant information and documents and, following the examination, to approve for prosecution any offence that he or she considers appropriate” and “conduct the prosecutions approved…”

The letter goes on to set out a two-pronged approach when considering whether to pursue charges: Whether “there is a substantial likelihood of conviction; and, if so, whether the public interest requires a prosecution.”

Local Superintendent Shaun Wright is aware of the guidelines. He says, in 2020, the RCMP forwarded 2,100 cases for consideration and the Crown rejected 700. Year-to-date 2021, the RCMP has put forward 1,200 cases for Crown’s consideration and 300 were rejected.

“The advocacy is done,” says Zukowski. “Now it’s time to turn around and look after the ratepayers who are paying to have this city operate in the first place. We need to see law and order put into place. The laws are for everybody. From the homeless to the high-end business person. Everybody is accountable to the Criminal Code of Canada.”

But Supr. has been in discussions with the Crown Counsel and has a suggestion for how Crown Counsel could deal with the “nuisance” offenders.

“We really push the idea that, with regards to charge approval, perhaps there is either one or a select group of Crown Counsel,” says Supr. Wright. “We would deal specifically with these downtown, lower-level crimes so the prosecutor would be familiar with the larger picture. A kind of constellation of events rather than dealing with each one of these events as a one-off.”

The letter suggests the RCMP could appeal the rejected decisions, but Supr Wright says that would be a cumbersome recourse.

by Cheryl Jahn

Prince George Business Group wants answers

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