Penticton RCMP discuss city stats
A majority of Penticton’s homeless population are not criminals, despite assumptions to the contrary, the area’s top cop told city council Tuesday.
Prior to a public hearing Tuesday surrounding more low-income housing in Penticton’s south side, Supt. Ted De Jager said calls for service have been reduced to nearly nothing in existing social housing areas.
Calls to the Fairhaven and Compass Court low-income housing projects have been reduced to one or less a month this year, De Jager told council in his quarterly update.
“That housing has to be programmed properly. When we look at something like Fairhaven, we learned a lot of lessons there,” De Jager said.
De Jager said the 19 per cent increase in calls relating to the Mental Health Act over the first quarter of 2018 versus the last quarter of 2017 indicates a shift in policing tactics with a new mental health officer added to the force already working in the community.
Addressing anecdotal concerns with homelessness received by the RCMP and city staff and council, De Jager said a majority of those considered homeless don’t end up in cells.
“It tends to be much more social-related. So the people that are seen walking downtown could be causing a problem because they’re pushing a cart, or blocking a road, or sitting in an area for an extended period of time and not moving,” De Jager said. “Are they committing a crime? No. Are they a concern to the community? Yes.”
He also discounted the idea that homeless people are coming from outside of the community, and said RCMP rely on the homeless count, which indicates a majority of the people police encounter when it comes to social issues are from the South Okanagan.
“They are not new to town. We’re going to get that — I won’t say we don’t arrest strangers, we do, there’s people that come in and are here — but the majority of the people that we deal with are from this location,” De Jager said.
Road safety as well as distracted and impaired driving also remain a priorities for Penticton RCMP. Also on the priority list are property crime, prolific offenders, modernizing the department and a new prioritization on youth engagement.
Thefts from vehicles were up 27 per cent in first quarter of 2018 compared to the last quarter of 2017, but De Jager doubled down on a strategy to focus less on those particular calls for service.
“I think I was pretty clear in all of my media messaging and at the community forum, I’m not sure what it’s going to take to get that message out to people. Again, over 75 per cent of theft from autos are from unlocked vehicles with valuables in plain sight,” De Jager said.
De Jager said he wanted to make it clear the RCMP in every community will respond to thefts from cars, but followed that up by saying officers could be better using their time.
“We never stopped and what I said several months ago, and I’ll repeat it now, I think we’re coming to the point where we have to make some changes. It’s not a battle that we’re winning. Every one of those files is an hour police officers could be out doing patrols in our core areas or doing other types of proactive work,” De Jager said.