Justice Minister Shirley Bond is standing behind the law enforcement not only in Prince George, but also across the province despite the city's poor showing at the top of Maclean's magazine's most dangerous cities in Canada list.
"I know this: that I have confidence in the police leadership in Prince George. I know that they're focusing on, for example, prolific offenders, crime reduction strategies and I think that all of us feel very troubled when we read headlines that characterize a place that I love to live in the way that they have," said the Prince George-Valemount MLA.
While she acknowledges that every community has work that can be done to improve, Bond said crime rates are dropping across the board.
"One of the challenges we're facing, is that the crime rate is at the lowest rate it's been at in British Columbia, generally, in almost three decades," she said, explaining this collective decrease makes it difficult for Prince George to move on the list when everyone is moving in the same direction.
Bond said that in her conversations with Prince George RCMP Supt. Eric Stubbs, she understands there's an aggressive plan in place and that there will be continued improvement. But that aggressive plan may also be what's leading to the city's continued dominance - more arrests and more convictions could make it look like more crime.
"When you have an aggressive strategy to deal with crime, you're going to report, you're going to track, you're going to make sure those kinds of things are a high priority for your units," Bond said.
The Maclean's ranking is about statistics interpreted in a singular fashion, which don't mesh with how Bond - a lifelong Prince George resident - and others view Prince George.
The statistics are difficult to understand, Bond added, especially considering heavy-weighted numbers such as homicides were virtually wiped from the Prince George slate.
"It's unbelievably unfortunate that there's that kind of characterization. But I think we also have to try to put that in the context of how most of us feel about where we live," said Bond, calling on leaders at all levels of government to demonstrate their personal confidence in Prince George. "I've chosen to live there with my family for our entire lives and we love where we live and we wouldn't consider living elsewhere. So I think we need to hear more stories like that."
Prince George Coun. Albert Koehler also took a view on basing the dubious title on statistics.
"If you sit with one leg in an oven and one leg in the fridge, statistically speaking, you should be fine," he said.
