The biggest balloon in last year's crime statistics was due to a surge in police enforcement, not necessarily criminal activity, according to RMCP.
Prince George's commanding RCMP officer delivered the 2010 crime stats Monday, saying the reason drug-related and weapons-related offence numbers were up was due to a head-to-head match-ups between gangs and Mounties.
The RCMP commended the local public for arming itself with knowledge of suspicious drug activity and sharing that with police. With this and improved street-level intelligence gathering and organized crime probes from all over the province, investigators have been able to infiltrate the drug dealers' pipeline. Once inside, one drug bust often leads to another, one suspect often leads to another, and so on.
During a press conference on crime stats at the RCMP detachment, Supt. Brenda Butterworth-Carr said intense focus on gang activity in 2010 meant a surge in files and, consequently, stats.
"We will continue to see a rise there because we are self-directing in those areas, so there will still be an increase followed, hopefully, by a decrease in a few years," she said.
But it doesn't mean the city is more dangerous than other communities in Canada, said Mayor Dan Rogers.
"We live in one of the safest countries in the world and it is getting safer, and in Prince George we are seeing a lot of successes and [although] we will never eliminate crime altogether, we are making progress," said Rogers. "People are safe in our city, compared to communities all across Canada."
Butterworth-Carr and Rogers agreed the results on the ground, not the results on the spreadsheet, were most important.
Rogers bristled at Maclean's Magazine emphasis on the spreadsheets in a recent feature proclaiming Prince George the most crime-ridden city in Canada.
"'Canada's most dangerous city' may make a headline, but it is probably not true, and comparing one city's stats to another city's actually does nothing to reduce crime," said Rogers.
Butterworth-Carr said her view as a law enforcement officer was the same.
"I simply do not agree [with Maclean's]," she said, adding that the magazine's analysis failed to account for demographic conditions, the nature of the specific crimes themselves, or any community's regional complexion.
"In terms of Prince George I absolutely do agree that we live in a safe city. Do we have a problem? Yes, but not to the degree of other municipalities."
The numbers
Aggravated assault was down from 12 cases to six in 2010. Vehicle theft was down 411 to 372. Robbery went up three per cent from 87 to 90. Break-and-enter cases went up by five per cent from 754 to 789.
"These are the kinds of crimes that feed organized crime from a different level. It is mostly about getting money for the drugs that drives the organized crime economy," said Mayor Dan Rogers, who said he was pleased to see the encouraging statistics in those categories.
Butterworth-Carr said the work was paying off by the anti-gang teams helping Prince George detachment, and their own Crime Reduction Team that primarily dogs prolific offenders.
