Crime trends in the region show a big increase in contraband cigarettes and an influx of date-rape drugs with a direct link to other crimes such as sexual assaults, RCMP Staff Sgt. Jay Grierson told the Cariboo Regional District board Friday, May 23.
“In the North District, our property crimes are down but our violence offences are generally up,” Grierson said,.
He said the date-rape drugs are readily available.
Grierson said there had been many drug overdoses in a 24-hour period in Williams Lake and noted drug overdoses are often directly linked to organized crime in the region.
As advisory NCO for the area, Grierson directly manages RCMP detachments in 100 Mile, Williams Lake, Quesnel, Alexis Creek, Anahim Lake and Bella Coola, plus currently the Robson Valley and all of the Peace Country.
“My role is to provide oversight, guidance and assistance to all the detachments,” he said. “The detachment commanders are the chief of staff, my job is to assist them.”
He also manages the Cariboo Crime Reduction Unit with nine employees, six being officers, that was developed out of Williams Lake in 2017, based on crime violence and gang violence, he said.
Every detachment is responsible to create an annual performance plan which he described as being a report card to the province.
"You've probably all had occasions where you’ve been consulted by the detachment commander on policing initiatives," he said.
Information from local government officials about what issues they see need to be addressed can help steer those annual plans, he explained.
“Every detachment commanders job is to identify policing issues in the community and come up with workable, tangible and measurable initiatives to address these. That’s their job. So hopefully, they are doing this, consulting with all of you. That’s what should be happening.”
Detachment commanders should also be regularly communicating with local governments, Grierson said, adding he advises them to have a communication strategy.
“Many of them will attend mayor and council meetings regularly. I’ve personally run a detachment where I’ve had communities say ‘we only want to see you twice a year.’”
Part of what he does is look at crime trends and help guide detachments, he told the board.
There are issues all detachments must development strategies for as mandated by the federal government. They include road safety, the opioid crisis with prevention and education, plus reconciliation.
“It’s vital that you give that feedback to your detachment,” he said. “I am interested in knowing what you have happening and what you are dealing with.”
Electoral Area D director Steve Forseth said his area is covered by both the Williams Lake and the Quesnel RCMP.
"We do meet with our (Williams Lake) detachment commander twice a year - in the spring and in the fall - so it might be helpful in the fall to have a broader discussion about what needs input.”
Locally Forseth said he is hearing concerns about speeding on Fox Mountain and home-invasions in Comer Heights.
Responding Grierson said traffic is handled by BC Highway Patrol.
Wells Mayor Ed Coleman complimented the Quesnel detachment commander Richard Weseen who he said communicates and keeps in touch.
“Because of that communication we can get specific quickly and solve the problems," Coleman said, adding when there have been emergencies, the RCMP response has been “incredible.”
He then asked what happens during emergencies and how the RCMP coverage is back-filled.
“Gone are the days when we are flooding communities with 100s of police officers - we don’t have them,” Grierson responded. “We try to get resources locally first. We have people on call to deploy in a moment’s notice.”
Electoral Area J director Tolin Pare said the Anahim Lake RCMP is also a great detachment and one of the main issues in the area is with repeat offenders.
“One of the questions I have, is are you tied to CVSE (Commercial Vehicle Safety Enforcement)?” Pare asked. “The reason I bring that up is we’ve had a lot of commercial vehicle accidents on Highway 20.”
Grierson told Pare he would recommend the detachment partner with CVSE and BC Highway Patrol.
“Similar if there was a complaint of poaching in a community, we’d partner with the BC Conservation Officer Service,” he added.
