The leader of RCMP services in Penticton and the South Okanagan and Similkameen told Penticton Council that continually arresting offenders suffering from addiction and mental health issues will not help reduce crime in this region.
“We will not be able to enforce our way out of homelessness and social, chronic behaviours,” said Supt. De Jager during a presentation to Penticton Council Tuesday afternoon.
“Those are health concerns, which we have a very active part in as police, and the community certainly has an active part in that, but that’s something we have to continue to keep our foot on the gas in terms of resolving the root causes of why those people are there in the first place.”
The Community Active Support Table (CAST) program, which has brought numerous community agencies together to work with police to provide counselling and services to those with mental health and addiction issues, is up and running, with members meeting once a week, he said.
Housing will be “an absolute vital part” of trying to solve the issues relating to chronic social behaviour that remains such a concern in the community, he said.
“It doesn’t mean they’re going to stop that behaviour, but it does mean that they will be able to start influencing it and start looking for solutions,” he said.
The chronic issues with addiction, mental health and homelessness remain in Penticton and “do drive that perception … people don’t feel safe if they don’t feel like they can walk down a path and that’s something we will continue to work with our partners … to continue to engage that population.”
De Jager said any perception that the vast majority of those suffering from mental health issues are responsible for the bump in crimes rates isn’t accurate.
“One thing we have been working on for the past several months and will continue to do is to separate that perception that the people that are suffering from street-entrenched behaviours … are criminals, which they are not,” he said.
Simply chasing people around who are engaged in improper behaviours due to addiction and mental health issues isn’t solving the problem and that’s why the CAST initiative is so important, he said.
“A police officer giving a ticket to someone who is a 24 beer a day alcoholic is not going to change his behaviour and it’s not going to make him move because he’s from here,” said De Jager. “The majority of our street-entrenched population is from here.
“The notion we’re going to solve any problems by moving them along hasn’t worked in any other city and I don’t think it’s going to work here.”
Penticton RCMP spent more than $50,000 in extra funding working with the street population in downtown Penticton this past summer, he said.
The solution for those with addiction issues is providing treatment and similarly providing affordable housing for those who are homeless, he said.
Once people have a home and receive treatment, it’s much easier for police to remain in contact and continue to provide support and assistance, he said.
De Jager continued to negate any suggestion Penticton is a violent city, informing Council there were 50 assault calls in July and August, but a vast majority were domestic incidents, uttering threats and assaulting police, which remains a concern, but skews crime statistics.
“I know that sounds like a big number, 50 assaults, but when you do that math over 40,000 people in the summer, it’s almost not measurable,” he said. “It’s very measurable to the person it happened to, that’s why were use victim services and we engage that person, but as a measure of perception in the community, that’s something we will be working on.”
There remains a serious issue with property crime in Penticton and across the region, but the level of violent crime remains extremely low, said De Jager.
“Do we have a serious issue with violent crime … does it exist in this community? Yes. Do we have a serious issue? No. What we have a problem with is property crime.”
The case load per officer in Penticton specifically and the South Okanagan generally remains “one of the highest in the province, so the police are very busy … but that’s not necessarily a bad thing,” said De Jager. “It’s good that we’re reaching out and we’re trying to increase our connection to the communities that we serve and continue to increase that desire to have the public call. If there are issues occurring, we need to know that.”
There were more than 24,000 calls for service in Penticton and across the region over the past years as of the end of August, he said.
The total calls for service in the City of Penticton as of the end of August were just under 14,400, with 27% of those calls in the summer months, he said.
The policing model in place means there will be more police presence in areas where members of the public call to assistance, he said.
“Where we know there are problems is where we will respond to,” he said. “If we don’t know there are problems, we can’t go there, so we’re trying to really encourage the community to continue to call.”
The RCMP is looking to form Block Watch programs across the region, he said.
De Jager repeated it’s up to vehicle owners to lock their doors and remove valuables, which are the keys from being victimized.
Much of the increase in property crime is taking place in smaller communities outside of Penticton, he said.
The majority of property crime is being committed by prolific offenders and most often take place in their home communities, but these people are mobile and move around regularly, he said.
Like most other parts of the province, the crime rate did spike during the summer months, but there has been a decrease in residential break and enters by more than 15% over the past few months, which is encouraging, he said.
