IS SMITHERS STILL B.C.'S CRIME CAPITAL?

The release of the Solicitor General's 2005 Municipal Crime Rate
Report tomorrow has some elected officials, including Mayor Jim
Davidson, bracing themselves.

The 2004 report released last summer indicated Smithers had the
highest crime rate in the province for three years running and
prompted Davidson to call for community action in his November
inauguration speech.

While Davidson maintains the best long-term solution to crime is
building a healthy community, he has long suggested that the revolving
door at the Smithers courthouse plays a major role in perpetuating the
high number of criminal offences committed in the municipality.

"I'd like to see the conviction rates to go along with that," Davidson
said in response to a question about the crime rate after last week's
regular council meeting.

Statistics for 2005 are not currently available, but last fall The
Interior News reported that of the 1,571 criminal code offences
reported in Smithers in 2004 only 216, or 13.7 per cent, were cleared
by charges.

Only 168 individuals were charged with crimes. Smithers RCMP Staff
Sgt. Rod Holland confirmed it is their assessment the majority of
criminal activity is carried out by the same small number of people
who keep getting bounced back onto the street by the courts.

Despite a public uproar over the crime statistics, a court watch
program initiated by Davidson earlier this year to monitor sentencing
and repeat offenders in the Bulkley Valley has been met with little or
no interest.

But recent decisions handed down by Smithers judges have re-ignited
the debate about the accountability of the courts.

On June 26, Kevin Mark Hamilton, 20, was convicted of possessing a
controlled substance for the purpose of trafficking and received a
nine-month conditional sentence. For the first three months, Hamilton
will be under full-time house arrest in addition to abiding by more
than a dozen court-imposed sanctions throughout the sentence.

On June XX, a 22-year-old Moricetown man facing trial for aggravated
sexual assault, pled guilty to a lesser included charge of aggravated
assault and was handed a conditional sentence of two years, less a
day, to be served in the community.

And on June 28, Charissa Scarrow was convicted of trafficking crystal
meth and received a conditional sentence of 4 months with no probation
despite the fact that the defence had agreed to 6 months conditional
plus 6 months probation.

Holland wouldn't go as far as to say police are frustrated with the
courts but suggested as much.

"You learn to distance yourself from it," he said.

"We see it every day, Scarrow is nothing exceptional."

Conditional sentencing is relatively new in Canada. Since September
1996, when an offender is found guilty by the courts, in certain
circumstances, they may be allowed to serve the sentence in the
community. A judge can give an individual a conditional sentence when:
the Criminal Code has not set a minimum prison term for the offence;
the judge decides the sentence should be less than two years; the
judge is convinced that allowing the offender to remain in the
community is not a danger to the public; and the judge is convinced a
conditional sentence is consistent with the purposes of sentencing in
the Criminal Code. Specific conditions, set by the judge, must also be
met by the offender.

"It's technically a jail sentence that can be served in the
community," said Stan Lowe, communications counsel for the Criminal
Justice Branch.

But Holland said there are virtually no checks and balances on whether
or not someone is abiding by the conditions of their sentence.

Ultimately, even if a case meets the criteria for a conditional
sentence, the judge still has the final say.

"The courts are the ones that actually craft the sentences," Lowe
said. "There are instances where the need for deterrence is so great
you would not be able to [get the desired result] from a conditional
sentence and a jail term would be applied."

Such was the case for Devin Fuller, a Houston man who was sentenced to
Prince George Correctional Centre after a failed bid by his defence
lawyer to have him placed under house arrest with his parents.

Davidson said despite the lack of interest in his court watch
initiative so far, he hasn't shelved it completely.

"I still think it is a priority," Davidson said. "I've given it up for
the summer, but I still feel this is absolutely terribly important. I
think this is simply something we must do but I didn't get enough response."

Volunteers in a court watch program would sit in on court cases,
keeping an eye out for sentences that may not be in line with the
crimes and repeat offenders sliding through the system.

Holland said raising public awareness is the first step to
accountability. He pointed to Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) as
an example of a public awareness campaign that had an effect on the
way courts do business.

"I was a police officer when MADD became a presence in society and in
the courts," he said. "Now, when it comes to impaired driving, the
system is pretty accountable."

Holland wouldn't speculate on whether a Smithers court watch would
have a similar effect on other criminal behaviour but said it's a good
first step.

"What I would say is that I think it is the duty of each citizen to be
aware of the process."

As for the sentences being handed out at the Smithers Courthouse, RCMP
Sgt. Ray Haugen said once the police have laid charges, it is up to
the court system to ensure the proper punishments are meted out.

"We have no control over [the sentences] whatsoever," Haugen said.
"All we do is provide the information to the Crown counsel's office.
They're the authority in British Columbia for charge approval and
prosecution. What happens after that is totally out of our hands."

"People often get the idea that police are the beginning and end of
[the system], but we're just the investigators," Holland said. "We put
cases into the big machine and they do what they do."

British Columbia Chief Judge Hugh Stansfield admitted that the courts
can certainly improve, but pointed out that judicial discretion in
handing down sentences is essential to treating the root causes of
crime.

"It's part of my job to take the heat," Stansfield said, "but I think
we somehow have to stop saying 'judges, wave a magic wand and cause
people to become cured of their drug addiction' and start saying we as
a whole community need to get really serious about the social problems
that plague us."