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Vancouver Sun DATE: 2005.11.18 EDITION: Final SECTION: News PAGE: A1 / Front BYLINE: Chad Skelton SOURCE: Vancouver Sun WORD COUNT: 668 ILLUSTRATION: Graphic/Diagram: Source: Univ. College of Fraser Valley,SFU. Vancouver Sun / Crime grew ahead of police: Study showed sevenfold growth in crimes over four decades as B.C.'s population grew 2.5 times and RCMP numbers tripled. See hard copy for graphic -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- B.C. police losing battle against crime: Crime rising faster than number of officers, study shows -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Police officers in B.C. have seen their workload more than double over the past 40 years as the hiring of new officers has failed to keep up with rising crime and mounting paperwork, according to a new study being released today. The study, by researchers at the University College of the Fraser Valley and Simon Fraser University, suggests that shortage of officers is having a direct impact on the ability of police to do their job -- with criminals in B.C. far more likely to get away with their crimes now than they were in the past. Since 1962, the "clearance rate" -- the percentage of cases solved by police -- has dropped from 90 per cent to 70 per cent for homicides and from 25 per cent to eight per cent for break-and-enters, according to the study. That means someone who breaks into a house in B.C. has less than a one in 12 chance of being caught. "More and more, police look at crime and say not, 'Let's go after them,' but, 'Do we have the resources to go after them?'" said Darryl Plecas, a criminology professor at UCFV and one of the study's authors. "They don't have the resources to do anything more than jump from call to call." According to the study, which was paid for by the RCMP, the number of police officers in B.C. has kept pace with population growth over the past 40 years. But during that same period, the number of reported crimes has increased seven-fold -- due in large part to a dramatic increase in property crime. That means the average officer today has to handle more than twice as many crimes as his or her counterpart in the 1960s. Asked whether the increase in crime is due to people reporting offences more often than they did in the past, Plecas disagreed -- saying survey data suggest people are less likely to report crime today than they did previously. RCMP spokesman Sgt. John Ward said the study, which cost $150,000, was commissioned by the Mounties to get a better sense of how officers are spending their time -- and not to pressure governments to increase police budgets. "Generally speaking, our staffing levels have kept up with our requirements," he said. Ward said the force intends to review the study to find ways to save time within current staffing levels. Plecas agreed that police need to find more strategic ways of tackling crime, but said there's also a need for more officers. There are about 7,500 sworn police officers in B.C. Bringing caseloads down to 1960s levels would require hiring another 10,000 officers -- something that would cost the province and cities nearly $1 billion more a year. Plecas acknowledged that kind of increase isn't practical. But to have any impact at all, he said, municipal councils -- which control police budgets -- need to consider far more dramatic increases than they have so far. "At the least, we should have a 25-per-cent increase in the number of officers," he said. Solicitor-General John Les, who is responsible for provincial policing, declined through his spokeswoman to comment on the report until it is officially released today. However, earlier this year the province announced it will spend $122 million over the next three years to hire 215 more officers. While the study was paid for by the RCMP, Plecas said its authors -- including senior criminologists at both UCFV and SFU -- had complete freedom to come to their own conclusions. Plecas noted that, despite having a relatively high crime rate, Canada has fewer police officers per capita than most other rich countries -- 26-per-cent lower than England and 19-per-cent lower than Australia. And B.C. has fewer police per capita than Ontario and Quebec, despite having a much higher crime rate. "We have a situation where Canada is worse than other countries . . . and B.C. is worse than the rest of Canada," he said. Plecas said the study found several examples of police not pursuing investigations because they knew they didn't have the resources to finish them. "There's definitely cases where police make decisions to cease investigations, or not proceed in the first instance, because the resource requirements to respond are just more than they can handle," he said. In Vancouver, for example, police usually won't respond in person to a theft from a vehicle unless the thief takes more than than $10,000 worth of goods. The study did not specifically address whether B.C.'s shortage of police may be partly responsible for its high crime rate. But Plecas said it makes sense. "Everything we know about criminality is if it goes unattended, people will continue the behaviour," he said. "If you're not responding at all -- which is what's happening now -- people who are in the business of crime say, 'Why would I quit? Nobody's chasing me.' "
November 16, 2005:
McLELLAN TRIES TO EXPLAIN HER CLAIM OF "NO UNFULFILLED REQUESTS FOR
RCMP OFFICERS"! |