A soon-to-be-released report investigating repeat offenders and random acts of violence in BC contains 28 recommendations the provincial government can take to address these issues. And the province is taking immediate action on three of them. At a press conference held Wednesday, Public Safety Secretary Mike Farnworth and Attorney General Murray Rankin released the 28 recommendations and executive summary of the new report authored by health researcher and criminologist Amanda Butler and former deputy chief of the Vancouver, Doug LePard. The report, which is expected to be published in full by the end of the month, was commissioned in May this year following pressure from provincial mayors. In the summary, LePard and Butler note that the COVID-19 pandemic has had a “devastating negative impact on British Columbians” and has contributed to a reduction in the number of people held in pre-trial detention and a reduction in misdemeanor and parole charges. warranty. “This trend, already underway due to recent changes in federal law and case law, has frustrated police and court officials because the only tools they have to manage people who offend the community have been virtually eliminated,” they report. In writing the report, Butler and LePard spoke to many stakeholders around the issues, including police, mayors and city officials, health authorities, Crown Counsel, community services and academics. While overall crime rates across Canada have decreased during the COVID-19 pandemic, LePard noted that there are very troubling trends among violent crimes in B.C. “Nearly everyone we interviewed – street nurses, mental health workers, inner-city community court staff, mayors, police officers – described what is quite obvious, which is the increasing intensity of disorder and aggressive behavior in inner-city areas of BC, and not just in large communities,” LePard said during Wednesday’s news conference. “It’s great news that crime overall is down across the board in Canada … but that doesn’t change the fact that we have some very significant issues with certain types of crime and disorder that create incredible distress in many communities. Mayors and others can’t imagine what they’re seeing, and we think they should be commended for supporting action in their cities.” Kelowna Mayor Colin Bashran, who serves as co-chair of the BC Urban Mayors Caucus, attended Wednesday’s press conference. He said he was pleased with the report’s recommendations and noted that many things the mayors have requested have been included in the recommendations. “It’s very difficult for us mayors to tell a business owner who has had his business broken into over and over again, to say, ‘well it’s out of our hands’ … our residents don’t care what jurisdiction it’s in, they just I want to see action,” Bashran said. “That’s why today is so important, because collectively, we now have a path forward.” Public Safety Minister Farnworth said the province will take immediate action on three of the 28 recommendations. “We have identified three specific recommendations that we want to get started on immediately: bringing back the productive offender management pilots that were cut by the previous government (Recommendation 21); a dedicated provincial committee structure to co-ordinate service planning for people with complex health needs that conflict with legislation (Recommendation 13). and the proposed BC First Nations Justice Counsel pilot program based at the Prince George Indigenous Justice Center to address recidivism among First Nations people (Recommendation 18),” Farnworth said. The report did not recommend mandatory treatment for offenders suffering from addiction problems — something NDP leadership hopeful David Eby recently suggested — as Butler said research shows it doesn’t lead to improved health outcomes. But they recommended the provincial government create something called Low Security Units “for people at serious risk of violence.” “Low Security Units would be facilities that are really designed with the proper security, treatment planning and staffing detail that you need for people who exhibit extreme violent behavior – the kinds of things that we’ve unfortunately seen in our communities, including knife attacks and really violent cases,” Butler said, adding that this could be implemented under the province’s Mental Health Act without action from the federal government. “I want to be really clear that this is very different from the discussion about mandatory treatment for people who have life-threatening substance use that doesn’t put them at risk to other people “There would be a mandatory treatment regiment, possibly depending on what people present … the Low Security Units would be for people who would have to have a mandate.” Farnworth and Rankin noted that issues of bail eligibility and sentencing fall under federal jurisdiction, but they will lobby federal governments to make changes to the law for tougher punishments for repeat offenders. “These are the changes that are obviously needed. We also need to review the approach to bail in Canada, which the Supreme Court of Canada said allows people to go back more quickly, that there has to be a very good reason to keep them in jail,” Rankin said. “So we have this problem with people on bail who are delinquent and the hands of the Crown are tied by the decisions of the Supreme Court of Canada and by the amendments to the Criminal Code that were made in 2019 with Bill C-75, a federal law … We need to make sure our federal colleagues understand what’s happening in our communities.” UPDATE: 13:35 The Government of BC released recommendations and an executive summary from a new report on the productive offensive in the province. The report, which was first commissioned in May of this year, was written by former Vancouver Police Department Deputy Chief Doug LePard and health researcher and criminologist Amanda Butler. The report includes 28 recommendations, which focus on “addressing critical gaps in the continuum of care for people with mental health and substance use needs involved in the criminal justice system.” In the abstract, LePard and Butler say the report looks at “multiple offenders,” as well as “an apparent increase in violent, unprovoked attacks by strangers generally believed to be committed by people with mental disorders and substance use needs.” The report came after lobbying from the province’s mayors, including Kelowna Mayor Colin Basran, co-chair of the BC Urban Caucus of Mayors. It was originally due on September 2, but a short extension was required. The full report is expected to be released later this month. In an update last month, the province said “an overwhelming number of people reached out to experts to share their experiences and provide recommendations about prolific offenders, including highly visible inner-city crime and unprovoked, violent attacks by strangers.” . More to come. ORIGINAL: 1:20 p.m BC Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth, Attorney General Murray Rankin and Kelowna Mayor Colin Bashran are hosting a press conference Wednesday afternoon for “an update on keeping communities safe.” Bashran, the co-chair of the BC Caucus of Urban Mayors, has recently criticized BC’s justice system and the so-called “catch-and-release” bail system that lets repeat offenders be released back into the community. There are no further details on what Wednesday’s announcement might entail. It is scheduled to start at 1:30 p.m
