VALLEY RESIDENTS FEEL SAFE IN SPITE OF HIGH CRIME

Cowichanians are generally happy with local police service despite our
relatively high crime rate.

That picture was painted with statistics presented to city council
Monday by North Cowichan-Duncan RCMP Staff Sgt. Alain Richard.

His palette held first-quarter figures about an increasing number of
calls being handled by his 54 officers.

Richard expects his detachment to gain four more members and reach
full strength by fall.

Traffic patrols and drug enforcement will continue to be the focus of
his busy members who locals surveyed said are doing a pretty good job.

Numbers describing citizen satisfaction are contained in a Public
Safety Survey covering the Valley.

It was finished last year by Irwin Cohen and Darryl Plecas of the
criminology and criminal justice school at the University College of
the Fraser Valley.

Their poll shows 74 per cent of folks are satisfied with RCMP call
response.

Overall, 32 per cent of respondents are very satisfied with Cowichan's
police service and 60 per cent are mainly satisfied. Just two per cent
were very unsatisfied.

But regional contentment with our cops contrasts with Duncan's high
crime rate.

Richard explained the city's crime rate, comprising total
criminal-code offences per 1,000 population, hit 302 last year
compared to the RCMP E-Division provincial average of 122.

There were 1,505 offences of various types -- from dope use to drunk
driving -- last year in the city.

That's up from 1,325 in 2005.

But Mayor Phil Kent says Duncan-versus-B.C. figures can be misleading
unless apples are compared to apples.

"Most crimes take place in the most populated areas.

"We need to compare us to Campbell River or to Sidney and look at
different areas of comparable geography to give us a reasonable
comparison."

Richard gave detachment figures showing crimes spanning assaults,
burglaries, vehicle thefts and drug offences dropped between January
and March compared to the same period last year.

"B and E's and car thefts are typically cyclical and are generally
done by a few offenders," notes Kent, "but once they're apprehended it
really lowers what's going on."

Survey results showing most folks believe their homes are safest
during the day (74 per cent) but less so at night (44 per cent) didn't
surprise Kent.

"It's a snapshot of what the community's perceptions are on safety and
police service and the RCMP thought it was a good news."

But Kent says folks shouldn't become lax about small
infractions.

"We're often too tolerant of small things like vandalism, drinking in
public and graffiti.

"If we ignore those, they lead to other things people believe can also
be acceptable.

"We have to develop a certain sense of pride in community with no
tolerance for certain types of behavior."

He and Richard want zero tolerance on public drinking and drug
use.

"We did some street-level enforcement last year that showed a higher
number of drug-related charges being laid," said Richard.

"If we have resources we'll do more street-level enforcement. Its
always on our minds."

Expect more roadside stop checks and radar traps - plus bait cars
against theft - once his officer number peaks this fall, he signaled.

Richard and Kent also urge citizens to continue calling police despite
58 per cent of those surveyed not believing cops could do anything
about an incident, and 35 per cent thinking an incident was
unimportant.

"Police want people to call," said Kent.

"It's not too small or insignificant but it's important police also
work to improve their response so people get a sense of
satisfaction."

"We want people to call us," said Richard. "We're there to support
them."