“Misleading and irresponsible” is how RCMP Staff Sgt. Warren Brown characterizes a recently released report by the B.C. Civil Liberties Association report on rural and northern policing.
The report, Small Town Justice: A report on RCMP in northern and rural B.C., focuses on both positive and negative aspects of policing in northern communities including Williams Lake.
To view the report, visit http://www.bccla.org/.
The information was compiled when the association visited the community in August last year. It indicates there were eight participants at the public meeting in Williams Lake and relies mainly on anecdotal information but does cite specific cases in Williams Lake in which the BCCLA has been involved.
Overall, the report is a step to uphold “our end of this shared democratic partnership and foundation of a civil society,” said BCCLA president Robert Holmes. Its key recommendation is to end the system of police investigating the police.
In Williams Lake, some of the positive items include: a general good conduct and competence exhibited the by the RCMP; a strong recognition for the organization’s community policing programs, active police participation in the community, the benefits of the positive ticketing program and the useful work of the prolific offenders program.
Brown agreed that the community policing initiatives are “very positive.”
There are 250 community policing volunteers in a dozen programs. “That’s one of the very positive attributes of our policing right now. Our restorative justice program is under community policing and for a community of our size in B.C. we have the most restorative justice facilitators in the province,” he said.
The Prolific Offenders program was also largely viewed as positive, although, Brown said, that from the RCMP’s perspective the program — which involves police working with other agencies to help chronic offenders improve their housing, economic or social situation — receives no funding from the solicitor general ministry that set it up.
Conversely, the report outlines negative concerns including too few officers, the degree of property crime, and negative perceptions of the police by teenagers.
The department is short staffed, agreed Brown. Despite 49 officers he said he needs another 20 officers to adequately meet the needs of the local and surrounding communities.
“My members’ work load is often double the provincial average for a police officer,” he says. “I don’t have enough people on the street.”
As for property crime and the suggestion that it was not being adequately addressed, Brown cited recent statistics that point to a decrease in crime in a number of areas including stolen vehicles and break and enter.
“I’m not aware of anybody saying they stopped reporting property crime. I would encourage anybody to report that to us,” he said.
The report suggests a lack of trust amongst some teenagers. But a school liaison officer, a youth safety committee and other positive interactions with youth, said Brown, are ways the police are working with teenagers.
“For last year and this year this is one of our four strategic priorities to contribute to safer youth.”
The report also spoke in general terms about the state of First Nations/RCMP relations. It noted there were no aboriginal attendees at the August meeting but later contacts with various First Nations communities revealed a concern with RCMP/First Nation interactions.
Brown said he’s had positive feedback from local leadership and chiefs in the community. Developing improved relationships with First Nations communities is one of the detachment’s priorities for strategic planning. Brown further pointed to existing community tripartite agreements where four First Nations officers work with aboriginal communities as well as police officer involvement at various First Nations community events.
“I would suggest that aboriginal elders in our communities have said that they believe the interaction and communication they share with the police has never been better.”
The BCCLA itself noted concern for the lack of audio recording devices in Williams Lake police cells and suggested they could be useful for the police and individuals in cases where mistreatment is alleged. The cells do have video surveillance.
Brown said the cost of installing and the logistics of maintaining an audio system preclude the detachment from doing so.
“As far as the audio goes I don’t know how that would benefit any one situation. Often times we may have upwards of 20 prisoners in our cells. I really question how technology would be able to decipher a certain activity in a cell,” he says.
The BCCLA has been involved in at least three cases in the last year in Williams Lake of alleged police mistreatment.
Calls to the B.C. Civil Liberties Association for comment on this story were not returned by press time.