Prince George RCMP Supt. Eric Stubbs left city council Monday night without a commitment to fund the five-member Downtown Enforcement Unit.
Stubbs presented council with five options for the future of the unit, which was formed as a pilot project in April, 2010. The unit has been highly successful over the last 18 months, Stubbs said, but seconding the five officers from their regular duties has put pressure on the Serious Crimes Unit and general duty watches.
"I do see a strain on those watches. Clearly the fewer amount of members on the road... your service suffers," Stubbs said. "[But] I do believe we need a presence in the downtown core."
Several times officers have been called in to work overtime because watches are understaffed, he said.
Downtown Enforcement Unit commander Cpl. Kent MacNeill has been seconded from the Serious Crimes Unit and the four constables in the unit came from the general duty watches.
Currently the city is contracted to have 128 RCMP officers, but only funds 121 of those positions.
Stubbs presented council with five possible options for the future of the unit: maintain the status quo, dissolve the unit, reduce the unit to three staff, fund all five positions in the DEU, or fund three positions and return two officers back to their units.
There are other options, he added, which could see some of the work done by full-time RCMP officers supplemented by auxiliary officers or civilians.
"Auxiliaries are a great asset to any detachment. [But] during the daytime it is difficult to get auxiliaries out - because they do have jobs and families," he said.
Mayor Dan Rogers said the progress seen downtown in just 18 months is remarkable.
"When you see numbers like an 88 per cent reduction in drug trafficking charges and an 80 per cent reduction in armed robberies, those numbers jump out at you," Rogers said. "This is a priority."
While ultimately the allocation of police resources is up to the RCMP, Rogers said, he looks forward to examining the options further and discussing the possible budget implications. Funding all five officers in the unit would cost the city $560,718 in 2012 and $768,125 in 2013. Funding three positions would cost $336,431 in 2012 and $460,875 in 2013.
Coun. Shari Green said she's seen a difference at her business downtown.
"I won't be supporting reducing the unit in any way. We can't afford to go back," Green said. "I think hiring five officers will have some budgetary issues. [But] removing this presence from the downtown will have some issues."
A tenuous grip on crime
Downtown Enforcement Unit commander Cpl. Kent MacNeill said their success in deterring crime downtown depends on daily patrols.
"The grip we have on crime downtown is tenuous," MacNeill said. "The unit has seen if, for whatever reason, we are short-staffed or our focus shifts from downtown, the crime returns."
The unit conducts a mix of day and night patrols downtown on foot, bike and in patrol cars, he said. The areas of 17th Avenue and Victoria Street, the Millar Addition and Strathcona Park are also included in their patrols, he said.
When things are quiet downtown, the unit shifts to combatting drug traffic in the VLA area, he said.
The unit has conducted nearly 10 drug searches in the VLA area.
"We've got a significant amount of drug charges and have seized some firearms as well," MacNeill said. "That is something we see doing more in the winter when it is cold and slow downtown."
MacNeill said reducing the unit to three members would continue to maintain a presence downtown, but "three members can't necessarily do the the work of five members."
"If it went to zero, if the unit was dissolved, I think there would be a return of activity to the downtown," MacNeill said. "In terms of the effectiveness of the unit, I think the numbers speak for themselves. The only category we've seen go up is breach charges. That is because we've been catching more people breaching the terms of their orders."
Supt. Stubbs said the unit hasn't just displaced criminal activity into the surrounding neighbourhoods.
The number of police files generated in the bowl area in the last 18 months has remained essentially flat at about 25,000, he said. In fact, the number of police files in the bowl area was actually down by 376 files compared to the 18 months before the formation of the unit.
"Certainly there has been a drift from the downtown. But the DEU has responded by expanding their mandate," Stubbs said. "The decreased we've seen haven't been ... displaced to other areas."
Stubbs said the next step is for the RCMP and city to engage in the budget process. City council will approve a final budget for 2012 in February.
