WHEREAS the federal government has committed to putting more police on the beat of municipalities across Canada; AND WHEREAS 53 million over 5 years has been allocated to British Columbia for more police on the beat; AND WHEREAS in 2007 and 2008 the City of North Vancouver has provided additional funding to the North Shore RCMP detachment to provide for a City Core Response Unit; AND WHEREAS the function of the City Core Response Unit is essentially to provide foot-patrol in the Lower Lonsdale area of the City; AND WHEREAS the city does not have sufficient and permanent financial resources to provide for the constant presence of the City Core Response Unit but rather can only fund the unit during a few months of the year; AND WHEREAS the city crime statistics demonstrate that the presence of beat officers through the City Core Response Unit has had a good impact on crime prevention: THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that UBCM request that the Province make the new funding provided in the 2008 Federal Budget specifically to increase the number of beat officers in municipal police forces available to all municipalities in British Columbia who have or wish to have such a program.
Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General Organized crime and violence associated with gangs affects all British Columbians. These problems call on new approaches to tackle crime that spans municipal jurisdictions. The Province has made significant investments to strengthen policing in all B.C. communities. Since 2001, we have increased the annual policing budget by 128 million a year and returned 250 million of traffic fine revenues to local governments to support their crime-fighting efforts. Also, the Province has stated it will commit all 53 million in new federal police recruitment funding to expand integrated policing efforts to address organized crime and gang violence. These specialized integrated teams provide extra support to community policing on serious crimes. According to the 2007 Integrated Threat Assessment on Organized Crime prepared by the Criminal Intelligence Service BC, there were 129 known criminal organizations in British Columbia in 2007, including 42 newly identified since 2006. The number of groups associated with organized crime has doubled in four years. The problem is significant and growing, presenting a serious public safety threat to communities throughout the province. British Columbias proven integrated policing strategy has demonstrated success in combating organized crime and gang violence, but bolstering those resources remains a priority. It is imperative that the Province look at utilizing the federal funding to both improve coordination between the policing agencies currently dedicated to the fight against organized crime, as well as increase capacity in those same organizations to deal with the problem province wide.