Though crime statistics are the lowest they've been in 16 years, it's not a time for the Prince George RCMP to sit back, said the head of the local detachment.
Supt. Warren Brown made his first appearance in front of city council Monday night, presenting the local RCMP's annual report.
Overall, the total number of files for 2014 were down 13 per cent from the previous year, which Brown "wouldn't say is a substantial decrease" in crime.
While categories such as theft under $5,000 (down 10 per cent), break and enter (down 12 per cent) and robbery (down 10 per cent) saw decreases, there were upticks in 2014 for theft of vehicle over $5,000 (up 28 per cent), incidences of being intoxicated in public (up 18 per cent) and mischief (up 20 per cent).
"Last year was our best year ever and I attribute a lot of that work to my predecessors," said Brown, who took over as the local commanding officer at the beginning of December following the departure of former Supt. Eric Stubbs. "But I'm here now and what I intend to do is take some of the initiatives that we did, perhaps polish and buff some of those that worked well and those that didn't, and we'll respin the wheel and look into more innovative and creative ways of working."
Among those new ideas is a way to address the ever-increasing amount of cases dealing with those who have mental health issues. Since 2008, mental health-related cases have jumped from 620 to 1,037 in 2014.
Last week the force launched Car 60, a new partnership with Northern Health that pairs two full-time police officers with psychiatric nurses to respond to mental health calls.
"We have young, junior police officers that try hard but really don't possess the same skills as a medical professional does," said Brown. "So this is just a natural partnership between us and Northern Health to have a more fulsome, wraparound support for those folks, get them to the help that they need and, hopefully through those processes, identify some of the gaps that exist so they can live a happier, safer life."
The program follows the same concept as Surrey's Car 67 initiative, which began in 2000.
The city's downtown enforcement unit falls under the category of existing ideas that need a bit of polish.
The three-person unit will now be known as the downtown safety unit, which Brown said better describes their work.
"But I think it's a lot more palatable when people understand the true spirit of the police is not to arrest bad guys - that's a part of it - it's also to make sure people are safe," Brown said. "I'm hoping that perhaps a simple name change like that will get more co-operation, assistance, buy in from the vulnerable, from social agencies and for people to see us as who we are - we're there to make a difference in people's lives."
But that can be difficult to do with limited resources. While more officers are being trained to work in the unit as well as on bike patrols, the unit is often poached from when major files crop up - such as the three homicides already on the books for 2015.
One of the year's main objectives for the year is to keep that uniformed presence downtown as much as possible, said Insp. Brad Anderson.
Also on the RCMP's 2015 work plan is a focus on reducing the number of pedestrians stuck by vehicles. Between October and January, five people were killed in Prince George.
"We will have an educational component and more robust enforcement in and around sidewalks and crosswalks," Brown said.
Despite any new measures of work plans, the core of the police work will remain the same, as Brown had a pointed message for those not interested in staying on the right side of the law.
"If you are a person in the community who's going to compromise the safety of those, if you're specifically a drug trafficker or enjoy a life of violence, we will target you and we will do what we can to put you in jail," he said.
