CRIME SOLUTIONS MULLED AT TABLE

The jail cells in Quesnel are populated by young men with cocaine
habits. Their crimes, more often than not, the result of their habit.

"It's gender specific," Staff Sgt. Keith Hildebrand said Wednesday.

"I walk through the cells everyday to see who's going to jail, and
its normal to see young adult males with cocaine habits."

While they're not the only ones going to jail, they make up the
majority of people in custody and awaiting trial.

As community leaders met Tuesday at City Hall in reaction to the
murder of Ernie Carifelle last month, Mayor Nate Bello stood up and
started the meeting off with, "Crime does not happen in a vacuum."

As 30 or so people collected around the table, they talked about
crime in Quesnel, most comments surrounded how to prevent violence,
drug addiction and stealing from happening in the first place.

"When I moved to Quesnel in 1992, I saw kids smoking drugs who were
14 and 15, now they're nine, 10 and 11," Coun. Sushil Thapar said.

While Hildebrand pointed out crime is down in Quesnel, he said the
perception the city is living up to its crime ranking as third worst
in the province is more about people's perception than anything else.

"Most crime is down this year," he said.

Most thefts under $5,000 are up, from 645 last year to 695 this year.

It's one of the only instances where crime is actually worse this
year than last year.

"To say Quesnel is the third highest is misleading," Hildebrand said.

"It leaves a false impression."

It's been said before. Because Quesnel is known as a core city - one
that supports a surrounding region - the crime rate is the result of
a much higher population base, not just the 11,000 living in the
city, but also the additional 11,000 living outside Quesnel.

While such perceptions that Quesnel is a B.C. crime capital can be
argued, most attending the Justice and Safety meeting talked about
prevention, not enforcement.

"The trouble starts when children start falling apart in school,"
Randy Curr said.

A director of instruction with Quesnel School District, Curr asked
whether children should be left with parents who don't know how to
raise a child.

But Quesnel citizen Brad Powell doesn't want to let parents off the hook.

"Why don't we make the parents look after their own children," he said.

"We're too tolerant letting parents get away with what they do. But
we need to pick up the slack," replied Quesnel secondary principal Mike Adams.

"If we don't grab them and put that net around them, we'll lose them."