Last Sunday, footage from one of the passengers on 66 Fraser Valley Express showed David Allen Lucas attacking passengers, leaving four with minor injuries. This is not his first brush with the law: Lucas had an extensive criminal record dating back to 1999, court records show. But after being arrested and charged in the bus incident, Abbotsford police say Lucas was released on bail on a number of court terms – something Tristan L’Esperance, one of the victims of the attack, says. is worrying. “I’m worried that this situation could happen again,” L’Esperance said. “That was my immediate thought when we learned that he was released on bail … he will seriously, seriously injure someone.” BC mayors have recently called on the province to address the issue. The mayors of 13 urban municipalities are calling on the PKK government to take action against chronic offenders throughout the province. pic.twitter.com/8thuMNGroY – @ cbcnewsbc
Call for repression
In March, the City of Terrace in northwestern BC passed a resolution calling on the BC Prosecutor’s Office to stop releasing repeat offenders without imposing significant conditions.
In April, Walt Cobb, mayor of Williams Lake in Central Interior, visited Victoria to meet with cabinet ministers to make a similar request.
In the same month, BC Urban Mayors’ Caucus, made up of mayors from 13 municipalities representing more than half of the province’s population, also wrote a letter to Public Security Secretary Mike Farnworth and Attorney General David Abby calling for action.
Kelowna Mayor Colin Basran says he hopes the county will take action against productive offenders. (Colin Basran / Facebook)
In the letter, they stated that the police data show that most offenses in BC are committed by a small number of active offenders.
For example, they said, of the 81 productive offenders – each with more than 10 convictions – monitored by Abbotsford police, 50 have more than 30 convictions. In Vancouver, they said 40 “outdated” offenders have an average of 54 convictions per perpetrator.
In a letter to Public Safety Secretary Mike Farnworth and Attorney General David Eby, the BC Urban Mayors’ Caucus shared information with police that they say show the high price a small number of productive offenders get on police resources in their communities. (BC Urban Mayor’s Caucus)
They also proposed a variety of solutions, including stricter warranty terms and consequences for repeat offenders, and the implementation of community courts, which provide a more effective response to helping and convict offenders through a combination of justice, social services and health care.
The letter was released by the Liberal Party BC on April 26, as leader Shirley Bond called for action by the BC NDP government during the interrogation period.
In response, Attorney General David Abby said the government is taking the concerns seriously and is in talks with local leaders on how to address the issues that arise.
Kelowna Mayor Colin Basran, co-chair of the parliamentary group, said the group had no plans to release the letter, although he was pleased so far with how receptive the BC NDP government was to their concerns.
Dawn South 6:09 BC the mayors ask the province to deal with productive offenders
The mayor of Kelowna, Colin Basran, talks about a letter that, along with a dozen other mayors, he sent to the government of K.V.E. earlier this month on community crime. 6:09
However, he also said it was important for the government to take action, a sentiment echoed by parliamentary group co-chair Victoria Mayor Lisa Helps.
“There is serious concern about recurring and productive offenders who seem to continue to ride their bikes in the judiciary … from the streets, to the courts, to prison and back again,” he said.
Perception versus reality
Basran said the BC Mayors’ Parliamentary Group had received the statistics in the letter from city staff working with local police and was “confident” they were accurate.
But Simon Fraser University criminologist Martin Andersen said police have an incentive to boost statistics so that crime appears to be a bigger problem than it really is.
Andresen responded to a statement by Vancouver Police Chief Adam Palmer last month, who said the city was experiencing an escalation of violent crime – a statement that helped restore $ 5.7 million in funding to its budget.
Vancouver police say violent crime has increased since 2020, but many criminologists say the allegation is untrue. (Matthew McFarlane / CBC)
Andresen said that while police statistics show some increase in criminal activity in individual Vancouver neighborhoods, there is nothing to indicate an overall “extent”.
However, Vancouver Mayor Kennedy Stewart said that even if BC crime statistics were low compared to other North American jurisdictions, “if you are a victim of crime, you do not feel that way.”
“Statistics are a good framework, but I think we need to listen to people who do not feel safe in the city and see what else we can do to help,” he said.
Dealing with social problems
Andresen suggested that resources could be better directed to providing social support and addiction treatment to chronic offenders, as many struggle with mental illness or substance abuse. Fellow criminology professor Neil Boyd agrees. “Locking up these people in jail as a solution to the revolving door syndrome ignores the fact that these are people with mental health problems, with substance abuse problems; jail just tends to make these things worse,” Boyd said. According to Attorney General David Abby, mayors in BC have noted that the recent wave of crime has concentrated in highly visible, downtown areas and is often linked to mental health and addiction issues. Overall crime rates in the province, he told the CBC’s Daybreak South, have dropped except for a few categories, such as threats and petty attacks. “[The mayors] “They really care about what they see,” said Abby.
Vancouver sees rash of violent attacks
A series of violent attacks on strangers in Vancouver have raised public security concerns as police seek solutions to the growing problem. 2:03
Abby adopted a number of measures the county could take, including instructing the same Crown prosecutors to repeat offenders each time they are arrested, to help provide the full scope of their crimes to judges who decide how to punish them.
He also said the province is opening up complex care services to help address mental health issues and substance abuse, and suggested that involuntary care could be justified under certain circumstances.
“It will take some work with experts in the area and working with mayors to be creative about how we treat people in this treatment.”
The Early Edition8: 31 Why is there such a disconnect between crime statistics and crime sentiment in Vancouver?
Criminologist Martin Andresen talks to Stephen Quinn about what he believes is a political agenda in Vancouver to promote crime narrative before the municipal election. 8:31
The Early Edition8: 39B.C. Attorney General defends Crown’s lawyer and his office against allegations that legislative changes are highly permissible for repeat offenders
David Eby talks to Stephen Quinn about allegations that the county courts do not punish criminals hard enough. 8:39
