By Cheryl Jahn

Good and bad news: RCMP Crime stats

Mar 20, 2023 | 4:07 PM

PRINCE GEORGE – The number of reported crimes last year dropped, according to the most recent figures presented to Council. But why remains uncertain.

“So definitely a bright spot and good news that there was a bit of a drop this year with the exact cause,” explains Supt Shaun Wright. “I would like to think that’s due in large part to some of the initiatives we’ve put forward for enforcement prevention and education. But part of it unfortunately might be individuals just feeling fatigued with some issues and perhaps not reporting issues, particularly with regards to social disorder and that sort of thing.”

The numbers show that the number of charges forwarded to Crown Counsel has dropped.

Supertintendent Shaun Wright says the downtown continues to be a busy place, with mischief and suspicious persons topping the charts. But there has been improved communications between all the stakeholders, with POUNDS, in particular.

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“Yeah so with that organization in particular, I think there’s been an acrimonious relationship between the police in that organization. And, you know, we’ve had some discussions and realize, yeah, we are somewhat have very different goals that we want to achieve, but we don’t really want to impede the other from achieving their goals. So we found some common ground on how we can work in a in a courteous manner with each other.”

Plus, the local RCMP now has access to what is called Health IM. It’s an app of sorts that puts officers in a common language with health practitioners.

An assessment of the local detachment last year showed that officers have some of the highest case loads, highly stressful. It is working with North District to have mental health professionals in place to help. Prince George is one of the first.

“So when we do have a critical incident or some sort of traumatic incident, be that our member-involved shooting or a particularly bad collision scene or anything like that, they can make contact with these individuals and have discussions and provide services in order to prevent them from going off due to the stress of that workload or in many cases to bring them back much quicker than we would have seen previously.”

However, decriminalization of illicit drugs has lead to more open drug use and the police have had to be creative in ways to deal with that.