Monday, August 19, 2013

RCMP provides review for City Council on Crime Severity Index Numbers

The Crime Severity numbers may get a passing review at tonight's City Council meeting, as the RCMP offers up their talking points on the recent report on Crime across Canada from Statistics Canada.

As we outlined on the blog on August 7th , the Statistics Canada review provided for a little bit of good news for Prince Rupert's RCMP detachment,  with a trend downward in the numbers from last year's report.

A decline which is no doubt welcome news for the community, but one which still places the community in the upper reaches of the Index across Canada, with Prince Rupert holding an eighth place ranking, the same spot that it held last year.

In the two key categories of violent and  non-violent crime, Prince Rupert ranked 7th in violent crime, 13th in non violent offences.

In British Columbia, only Williams Lake has a higher ranking in the CSI number crunching. 3rd overall,  2nd in violent crime, 3rd in non violent crime.

The RCMP's media relations officer provided the background on the local detachment's review by way of an information package provided for Council, which provides a few key items of note that helped to bring the city's CSI numbers trending downward.

Among the main contributions towards the downward trending, was the work of the detachment members who gave of their off shift  hours and in some instances their days off, to ensure that files  and investigations were completed and ongoing issues of concern were addressed.

The General Investigation Team also has added its assistance towards the effort, the staffing of it was recently increased with a new sergeant in place to oversee the section, allowing for better operational tasking.

As well, the Crime Reduction program that monitors Prince Rupert's more prolific offenders has also helped contribute to the Team's success. While the Prince Rupert Bar Watch Program which continues to seek out licensee accountability has been successful, reducing civil disobedience and reduction of harm to citizens.

The local detachment also continues to focus on Violence in Relationships in their policing tasking, developing partnerships in the community to assist those who are victims of domestic abuse.

Local residents may have also noticed that the detachment has also re-introduced bike and foot patrols through the downtown area, to provide for more visibility of its members.  As well, the RCMP has partnered with School District 52 in placing the first ever RCMP office at Charles Hays Secondary School. A program that the RCMP believes is helping to build up a rapport with Prince Rupert youth and establish trust between both the detachment members and youth in the community.

Towards that goal the RCMP recently welcomed a new Detachment Commander, Inspector Wayne Maughan.

We made note of his arrival at the detachment with this article from the the blog in July.

Inspector Maughan has indicated that he would like to continue to develop strong relationships with the youth of the community, as well as with the First Nations of the region.

You can review the Counci's briefing notes from pages 5 and 6 of the Council Information package.

Media reviews of the Crime Severity Index report can be found below.

August 16-- Crime Severity drops in Terrace
August 14-- Prince Rupert Crime Severity Index hits a five year low

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