Policy & Positions Manual
Policy Priority Area - Crime and Public Safety
Statement of Policy
Crime and public safety has become a prime concern for the chamber movement across the province, and indeed the country. Concerns regarding crime and public safety are not peculiar to the Chamber; rather they reflect concerns of citizens in the broader community. Public opinion polls show that British Columbians view crime as more of a problem that citizens of other provinces.
There are particular areas of concern that most affect the business community. First, BC has higher property offences than most other provinces in Canada, and higher than our nearest US neighbours in Washington and Oregon. Second, there is a concern that offenders do not face adequate consequences for criminal behaviour, particularly as it relates to non-violent offences, drug offences, and for recidivist offenders. Third, the length of time to clear a court case is excessive and the process is cumbersome, thus distancing the offender from any consequence he may receive.
The challenges associated with addressing the issues of crime and public safety are admittedly complex and cross federal and provincial, as well as municipal jurisdictions. Since criminal behaviour crosses these boundaries in terms of crime classification, it is important that greater coordination between the various levels of policing and justice be attained. This requires a greater level of inter-provincial coordination, under federal leadership, to ensure that legal and judicial processes are effective, consistent across provinces, and recognize cross-jurisdictional offenders.
While policing and judicial initiatives are the responsibilities of the Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General, and also the Attorney General respectively, there are obvious underlying causes to some of the occurrences that police and the judiciary deal with on a daily basis. These include but may not be limited to drug addiction, mental health issues and homelessness. Therefore cross-ministerial coordination is also required. Initiatives and cooperation with other ministries including, but not limited to, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Children and Families and the Ministry of Employment and Income Assistance should be integrated.
The negative impacts of poor system coordination have resulted in an erosion of public confidence. Concerns have developed regarding policing and, more pointedly, the ability of the judiciary to deal with offenders. The public are concerned that their safety is being compromised and offenders are experiencing relatively little consequence for their criminal acts. While the Chamber does not advocate a “lock them up and throw away the key” approach, we do advocate for public policy in the areas of policing and the judiciary that emphasizes the protection of society and the responsibility of individuals for their behaviour.
Understanding that criminal behaviour is often linked to social and economic problems, the Chamber strongly believes that systems and programs should be in place to assist individuals to re-direct their behaviour and integrate into productive society to the highest level of independence they are able to achieve. To accomplish this, adequate services should be available to assist with drug addiction, mental health issues, housing and employment training in a timely manner.
The Chamber acknowledges that assessing the effectiveness of such social service interventions is difficult as the programs are delivered in a dynamic environment with a wide spectrum of individuals with diverse needs. Even so, the Chamber contends that the framework for the provision of social service intervention programs requires focus on a positive outcome for the whole community, with tangible and measurable results, and that programming should be economically feasible.
