The B.C. Conservatives will hire 10 prosecutors for a special unit focussed on bringing gang members to justice in the province's interior and northern regions if elected, says party leader John Cummins.
The promise was made Tuesday during a media event in Kelowna, where notorious Red Scorpions leader Jonathan Bacon was murdered and four associates wounded in a brazen daylight shooting in August 2011.
Prince George, meanwhile, has remained Canada's most dangerous city according to a Maclean's magazine assessment despite a precipitous drop in the number of murders in the city. A gang war that flared up in and around Prince George and highlighted by the murder of Renegades president Billy Moore in 2005 has appeared to died down following an influx of police resources.
In an interview Wednesday, Cummins said it's still to be determined how many of the prosecutors would be based in Prince George but said they would work on cases from Kamloops to Fort St. John.
"We just feel it's a worthwhile thing to do if we're going to try to address this beat, to have these prosecutors dedicated to the issue," Cummins said.
Cost of the hirings would add up to $4 million and be part of the $700 million the party has pledged to add to the Ministry of Justice budget. That raised alarm bells for Justice Minister and Prince George-Valemount MLA Shirley Bond, who noted the budget is already at about $1.2 billion while crime in B.C. is at its lowest rate in three decades and fewer cases are going to court.
"When Conservatives announce that in their view the way to fix the justice system is to add $700 million, I can't even imagine how that would be appropriate or how taxpayers in this province would even begin to address that," Bond said.
Bond also noted that the governing Liberals have continued gang task force units in Prince George and Kelowna after federal funding ran out for the programs.
Cummins also promised to establish additional "drug courts," similar to the community court up and running in Vancouver, focussed on providing the help to get prolific and often drug-addicted petty criminals to change their ways.
Bond said she has actively lobbied the federal government for a second such court in B.C. because it's shown promising results in decreasing recidivism.
NDP justice critic Leonard Krog called the proposal to hire more prosecutors a "fine idea, I'm just not convinced the Conservatives have figured out how they're going to pay for it, notwithstanding what they say."
"Complex drug trials" is one of the reasons for delays in concluding cases, Krog said, and yet Cummins' former party, the federal Conservatives, have introduced mandatory minimums for drug-related convictions which will only prompt the accused to force cases to trial.
B.C. Crown Counsel Association spokesperson Samiran Lakshman encouraged whoever wins the election to continue to implement recommendations made by lawyer Geoffrey Cowper to make the system more efficient.
He also called for increased funding for legal aid, arguing people who are represented by lawyers usually see their cases resolved more quickly and effectively, freeing up more time for other cases in the process.
Prince George mayor Shari Green, who has launched a mayor's task force on crime welcomed the proposals.
"Gang crime prosecutors are needed and Prince George would see continued improvement in our crime statistics with more resources like this," she said in an email. "I'm also pleased to see the recognition that crimes due to mental health and addiction can be handled in a more productive way."
