Suspects will soon be flocking back to their home provinces if they get caught hiding in B.C. from their allegations back home.
A few fledgling police departments in B.C. - Prince George among them - were already transporting suspects back to other Canadian jurisdictions, but they were doing so on small local budgets, financial sponsors, and donors of air points. The provincial government announced this week there would be province-wide funding for all parts of the province to engage in these similar cross-border transfers.
"We were second only to Vancouver Police Department, it was their original idea and we liked it so we were next to do it," said Staff Sgt. Jeff McArthur of the Prince George RCMP, one of the local leaders of the initiative. The Victoria Police Department also does it.
"The RCMP has a fugitive return program up and running, and we have been involved in doing those returns before it was formalized by the RCMP," McArthur said.
The first prisoner transfers out of the northern capital were done in 2008. Since then about a dozen suspects from around Canada have been loaded up in Prince George for the trip back to face their respective allegations. Most have been dispatched to Alberta but the most recent trip was all the way to the Maritimes.
In order for the program to be underwritten by the B.C. Ministry of Justice, it needed the co-operation primarily of the RCMP, the province's municipal police departments, the provincial Crown prosecution department, the BC Sheriffs' Service. The stakeholders signed a memorandum of understanding clearing the way for a provincial program. Minister responsible Shirley Bond said $40,000 would be seeded into the program each year to pay the bills of taking the accused back to face their accusers.
Bond said there would also be a provincial co-ordinator for the program provided by the RCMP. The co-ordinator would take transportation requests from community officials and prioritize the province's cases. The sheriffs of the province will help escort the suspects to their arresting agency in their home province.
"The provincial Fugitive Return Program, the first of its kind in Canada [and] gets wanted criminals out of B.C. communities and holds them accountable for their crimes," said Bond. "[It] sends a clear message to criminals that they won't escape justice in B.C."
Vancouver Police Chief Constable Jim Chu called the news "a major step towards closing the loopholes" in B.C.'s justice system. The RCMP's Assistant Commissioner Craig Callens said "crime has no boundaries and the program's goal is to ensure that criminals are held accountable for their actions no matter where those crimes are committed," while also serving better service to victims.
The Prince George program, nicknamed Con Air like the Vancouver program, received an anonymous donation of $10,000 in recent years. That plus the provincial government's new involvement should make these suspect transfers even more doable, said McArthur. He urged the public to do their part to help as well. If, he said, someone comes to B.C. while under arrest warrant from somewhere else in Canada, they have to stay in B.C. to first face any local charges. The faster these suspects can be turned in to police, the better the chance they haven't committed many crimes here and the more likely that makes it for local police to ship them home quickly.
