Crime in Prince George down according to Stats Canada, but not everyone is buying it

“There’s been a big relaunch of the Community Block Watch program, and in fact, starting in September, you’re going to see quite a significant effort to relaunch that program. So talking about Block Watch, talking about how the community can come together to help because this is a community issue, and it’s not just in the downtown. There’s public safety concerns throughout the entire city of Prince George,” Polillo added.

On top of the increased public awareness, Polillo adds City Council was also put more resources into the RCMP over the last three years, which he believes has further benefitted to the drop in crime numbers.

“When you’re helping from this direction and that direction, I think overall that comes together and we’ve seen some really positive results,” he said.

However, not everyone is convinced the stats are an accurate reflection of what’s really going on. Eoin Foley, the President of Downtown Prince George and a member of the Save our Streets Coalition (S.O.S), says business owners don’t feel crime has gone down at all.

“I don’t want to detract from some of the good work that the RCMP does, but I think it begs the question of how much of that might be associated to underreporting,” Foley said.

Foley added S.O.S did a survey with business owners across the province, and there is an overwhelming belief that crime is going underreported due to frustration with the criminal justice system.

“One of the standout stats from that was that here in northern B.C., at least 94% of people believe that there’s a big case of underreporting of crimes. And by far the number one reason that people gave for that was a complete lack of faith in the criminal justice system,” Foley said.

The often discussed “catch and release” of criminals has been a huge source of why business owners have lost faith in the handling of criminals, which has lead business owners to “take matters into their own hands.”

“Even when you get a good response from the RCMP, even if they do their good work, the legal system just lets them down,” Foley said.

Issues around bail reform and how criminals are prosecuted are beyond what the public safety committee in Prince George can impact, but Polillo said it’s doing what it can on a local level to hopefully deter crime and make the streets safer.

“We’ll also see very soon, the launch of the pilot program for the security cameras downtown. I think that is another positive initiative as well,” Polillo said.

“Those new cameras would help in getting convictions because they are so much better quality and monitored in real time compared to the cameras we might have in the sides of our buildings,” Foley said.

However, until change comes on the provincial and federal level, it is likely business owners will continue to remain frustrated with a system they believe is far too lenient on criminals.

“There needs to be significant change at those higher levels of government on a lot of fronts. And we really haven’t seen that for years,” Foley said.

Local news. Delivered. Free. Subscribe to our daily news wrap and get our top local stories delivered to your inbox every evening.

by Tommy Osborne

Crime in Prince George down according to Stats Canada, but not everyone is buying it

What's Trending