RCMP CHIEF PREDICTS DRAMATIC CRIME DROP UNDER NEW STRATEGY

The RCMP's commanding officer in B.C. is predicting a double-digit
drop in some crime rates with the major expansion of an integrated
strategy that targets prolific offenders and their problems.

Deputy Commissioner Gary Bass said a pilot project in six RCMP
jurisdictions has already shown the success of going after prolific
criminals with an approach that also deals with their health and
social problems.

In communities such as Surrey, where the plan has already started,
dramatic drops have occurred in auto theft, break and enter and
property crimes, Bass said Friday in a meeting with The Vancouver Sun
editorial board.

"I am comfortable predicting that we are going to see these
double-digit reductions right across the province," Bass said. "I am
confident that we are going to see them sustained. I think we have
come far enough now that we are well on track. As far into the
double-digits we get is just a matter of how much buy-in there is."

Bass said it is easy for police to temporarily reduce crime rates by
charging chronic offenders. The problem is that there is an instant
upwards statistical spike when they get out of jail.

That's why the RCMP has been working with the B.C. government to
develop teams that can work with chronic criminals to help them get
drug treatment, housing and education as part of their
rehabilitation, Bass said.

Surrey Coun. Barbara Steele agrees there has to be some form of
rehabilitation for repeat offenders.

Although auto theft in Surrey has dropped by 47 per cent in the past
three years and 28 per cent in the last quarter, mostly as a result
of the city's bait car and hot wheels programs, in which police track
chronic offenders and catch them in the act of stealing vehicles, she
said the problem isn't being solved.

The city would like to see longer sentences for offenders and is
hoping a new community court system will provide chronic offenders,
mainly those aged 14 to 20, with treatment to keep them from
repeating their crimes once they get out of jail.

"If people are not being rehabilitated, people should not be out,"
Steele said. "We shouldn't be watching people for when they commit
their next crime."

The B.C. government has allocated special staff in the last few
months to implement the program in a broader form.

Bass said the six pilot projects began in January 2006 and there has
been success across the board.

In Surrey, where 3,000 fewer cars were stolen compared to the year
earlier, police were able to reallocate resources saved, said Bass,
who took over command of E Division this spring.

"In September-November 2006, they focused on this one prolific
offender in Coquitlam. When they arrested him, they had a 38-per-cent
decrease in auto theft and a 53-per-cent decrease in theft from
vehicles and a 67-per-cent decrease in B&Es in that zone," Bass said.

"It seems that this one prolific offender in that zone was driving a
higher proportion (of crime) in that zone."

"We are seeing the same kinds of numbers everywhere we are doing it."

It is no secret that much of the province's property crime is
committed by drug addicts who need fast money, Bass said.

In the Courtenay pilot program, the police-community teams keep
detailed records on the offenders after their release, Bass said.

"The next set of pilot projects are being kicked off now and they
will have a strong aboriginal focus," he said.

The Vancouver Police Department is already running a chronic
offenders program, in which participants are identified by the court.

Bass said police in each RCMP jurisdiction already know the people in
their areas who are committing the majority of the crimes. But law
enforcement has traditionally seen its role merely as preparing a
case for court, he said.

"We need to reassess the people we are putting into the corrections
system and if the money would be better spent on drug treatment, move
them to drug treatment and better yet, move that money to drug
treatment," he said. "This right now is spreading quite frankly
across the country....We have made a decision in the RCMP that we are
rolling this out nationally."

Bass said academics at Simon Fraser University and the University
College of the Fraser Valley will study the results of the programs.

Most B.C. municipalities use the RCMP for policing. There are about
6,000 members across the province, Bass said.

He said politicians at all levels of government seem excited about
the possibilities of the integrated approach because of the long-term
benefits, which are both social and financial.

"There was just tremendous buy-in to what was going on," Bass said.
"I think we are still finding ways to achieve stronger results with
the same resources. . . We are really excited about it."

In 2004 Surrey was able to nab 10 of the city's worst car thieves
with help from the Integrated Municipal Provincial Auto Crime Team,
which is made up of 20 police officers from seven separate police
units in the region.

IMPACT spokesman Gord Elias said automated plate recognition,
targeted enforcement and undercover surveillance are flushing out
more car thieves. With the bait cars, which are equipped with global
positioning devices, sensors, microchips and hidden video cameras,
police are able to track chronic offenders and remotely disable the
cars. Using aircraft and police dogs, they can then close in on the thieves.

"We've cast a net over car thieves, they have nowhere to run and
nowhere to hide," said Elias. "They try to get out and run and the
dog is released and it's very difficult for them to get away. They
hate dogs; they don't like to get bitten. . . we think they're
getting the message."

But Steele said longer sentences are needed. In one case, a prolific
car thief was jailed for three to six months and the crime rate
plummeted. But she added: "You can tell the day when they come out
because the stats go up again."

Elias agrees courts have to start making penalties fit the crime,
adding that offenders who are let off with probation or curfews tend
to flout the law.

"They tend to flog this and throw it back in your face and that's why
they need to be held in custody," he said. "What we know for sure is
when chronic offenders are in jail they can't commit more crimes."