Exchange of ideas on crime and prevention takes place in Prince George

Mayors and the heads of detachments of the RCMP from across Northern British Columbia gathered in Prince George on Thursday, prepared to discuss the impact that crime has on their communities and what steps that they have taken that might be used in other communities to reduce the problems.

As we outlined on the blog last week, the one day session was the creation of Prince George Shari Green, who felt that northern communities which have had the highest of crime rates in recent years, might be able to share their experiences to come up with a common strategy to tackle the pressing issue.

Prince George Mayor Shari Green

As though to provide some material to discuss, while the municipal leaders and police representatives were discussing crime, Prince George RCMP were dealing with two high profile incidents out on the streets not too far from the meeting place.

The first a report of a man brandishing a gun outside of a hotel in the downtown core of the city and in a second disturbing incident of the morning, the need for Prince George RCMP to institute a school lock down owing to a man who had fled police.

Of interest perhaps to the north coast representatives, the suspect involved in that second incident was a thirty two year old resident of Prince Rupert.

As for the information sharing session, no strategy has been revealed from the conversations of the day. Though the participants did learn that a blue a ribbon panel will be visiting a number of northern BC communities in the new year, as part of the consultative process in developing a crime reduction strategy.

Following the session, Chief Superintendent Rod Booth, the District Commander for the RCMP's E Division observed that he was glad to see the region's mayors come together to discuss the issues.

Explaining that police can't tackle the problem of crime alone and that it will take a collaborative process to address the many issues facing northern communities.

Some background on Thursday's meeting can be found below:

Opinion 250-- Chief Superintendent Says Northern Crime Session a Positive one
CKPG-- Cities Around Prince George also have High Crime Rates (video)
CKPG-- Mayors, Police, Province unite against crime