For only the second time in at least a decade, the highest ranking police officers gathered in Prince George for meetings.
The B.C. Association of Chiefs of Police (BCACP) encompasses all RCMP and municipal forces. They hold meetings three times per year, but have not gathered around a Prince George table since 2005. This week, they were back in B.C.'s northern capital.
"It's a great opportunity for the association to be out beyond the Lower Mainland centres," said West Vancouver Police Department's chief constable Peter Lepine, vice-president of the association. "For those of us who work in the Lower Mainland it is a great experience. I have to commend the Prince George community for the hospitality we have received."
For others, it was a homecoming of sorts. RCMP Insp. Brad Haugli is now based in Penticton but was stationed in Vanderhoof from 1999 to 2002 and in Tsay Keh/Fort Ware (Kwadacha) from '02 to '04.
He remembered once having to drive a vandalized police vehicle out for repairs from the isolated community north of Williston Lake. The road in is not cleared in winter but he pushed snow with the bumpers of the vehicle until he emerged onto pavement. It took 13 hours to cover the 410 kms to Mackenzie.
"Prince George was always the base city for that part of my career," he told The Citizen. "It's great to be back."
The BCACP typically covers a lot of topical territory, said the organization's president, North Vancouver RCMP Supt. Tonia Enger - issues like domestic violence, identity theft, data crime, new police technology, criminal trends, advocating for legislative change, etc.
The way gangs rippled out from the Lower Mainland to Prince George and the Okanagan and now on to smaller centres can be better addressed if everyone shares information, she explained.
"This is an opportunity for us to share best practices. If something is working in one community, could it work in another? Talking about your downtown enhancement project is an example," she said, referring to the city's Downtown Enforcement Unit. This one-year-old initiative is very similar to one she is operating in North Vancouver. "As a commander, that is very exciting and gives credibility to what we are doing."
Big priorities, the spokespeople agreed, was putting a focus on prolific offenders and addressing the conditions that foster crime in the first place.
"We are very sensitive to and advocate for prevention of crime at the earliest stages: youth," Haugli said.
Another issue front and centre at this week's meetings was the latest data on Immediate Roadside Prohibitions, the provincial penalties now in place for impaired drivers. The police chiefs of the province were agreed - and they don't on every issue - that these tools were helping all corners of B.C.
"It is saving lives and we are seeing a difference," Enger said, but a second benefit is the new citations also cut down on file time, so police can focus more on other cases.
Prince George residents should be proud of the new police detachment under construction downtown, said Lepine.
"This is good news for Prince George. The association wants to commend the community for taking that bold step. We are all aware that tax money is tight [but the infrastructure benefits will pay off]."
The next BCACP meetings will be held in Victoria in November.
