3333 replies to this topic

[North Shore]

ya.  they want officers to come to one of the most expensive jurisdictions in the country, to serve on a force with the highest caseload in the country.

 

Says in the article:  “I also think there could be other people working towards the end of their career who may look to Victoria as a good option to finish off their career and retire on the West Coast, which a lot of people like to do.”   Joke's on anyone who comes here thinking that they're going to get a cushy retirement gig!  I think that it'd be soul-crushing working as a front line copper here.  a never-ending cycle of petty crimes fuelled by drugs and mental health issues, and a catch-and-release judicial system..  

Some Saanich cop got fired. Not a single news outlet will name him.

Crazy.

 retired/fired, I think...

[pontcanna]

Ethnic diversity needed at VicPD

• Times Colonist
• 13 Nov 2021
•  

Re: “Victoria police offer $20,000 hiring bonus, seek 12 new experienced officers,” Nov. 10.

 

Victoria may in fact have the whitest, most male police department in Canada. If Chief Del Manak wants more officers, he’d better not hire a dozen more white guys.

 

To fairly represent the 5.5 per cent of Victorians who are Indigenous, 19 or 20 of our VicPD should be First Nations or Métis. Last I heard, their recruiter guessed only eight are.

 

Similarly, VicPD’s Chinese-heritage officers and staff should number 15 to 17, yet the recruiter said only three are of Chinese heritage.

 

Based on StatCan numbers, 10 to 12 VicPD officers and staff should be Black or Latino, and 23 to 25 should have “other Asian” ethnic origins (non-Chinese and non-Indian).

 

Does our department have even one officer from those ancestries? And of course only a tiny fraction of VicPD officers are women.

 

Victoria should be building a department that truly represents our diverse city.

 

Bill Johnstone, Victoria

 

[Victoria Watcher]

garbage.  

 

if you cannot handle an interaction with a police figure or other person that doesn't share your skin colour or gender you have much larger life problems.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 13 November 2021 - 05:29 AM.

[Mike K.]

Diverse city? I recall a heated debate on here with people claiming Victoria wasn’t diverse at all.

Fast forward a year and now victoria is so multicultural, that 74 cops need to be BIPOC to represent the community’s diverse make-up.

[Victoria Watcher]

We don’t have a single trans cop.

And 40% of Gen Zs are LGBTQ now.

https://www.newsweek...l-shows-1641085

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 13 November 2021 - 07:11 AM.

[LJ]

garbage.  

 

if you cannot handle an interaction with a police figure or other person that doesn't share your skin colour or gender you have much larger life problems.

What are the crims to do while they wait for the right gender/color cop to attend?

[pontcanna]

Two decades after a downtown ridealong, Jack Knox finds policing challenges have only grown

 

Times Colonist, November 14, 2021

 

ria police officers Mark Jenkins and Jess Moretto talk to resident Tracy White and her puppy Violet in front of her Johnson Street building. 

VicPD officers Mark Jenkins and Jess Moretto

 

Downtown groups say Victoria is in “a state of public safety crisis.”

The assertion is in a letter to city council in which the five signatories — business and tourism groups, Our Place, the Victoria Conservatory of Music — push for more money for an overwhelmed police department.

“It’s a basic need for all citizens to feel they are not in danger,” says the letter, which also refers to the “current unsafe environment” and says “the status quo is not a safe option.”

Whether you agree with that Mad Max -ish assessment is a matter of perspective, but few would dispute that downtown is more troubled than it was.

And that brought to mind the wet, chilly night shift that I spent with a Victoria cop named Brent Burger way back in 2002.

Right off the hop, there was a wanted criminal ­outside the Douglas Hotel — remember the Dougie? — who decided drunk o’clock was the right time to turn ­himself in.

But that incident quickly gave way to a call about a pre-teen boy who was locked out of his house and worried about his missing mom. By the time police arrived, she was home. Turns out she had gone downtown and bought $40 worth of cocaine after being straight for several months. She was now repentant and afraid her son would be taken from her.

“We’re not here to take your kid away,” Burger assured her. “We’re here to help.”

Why bring this up now? Because almost 20 years after that night, the challenges, and the lack of resources to deal with them, are even more pronounced.

Burger, who retired from VicPD this year, saw the shift as he left: a surge in the number of marginalized people, who were offered housing but not other supports. “We have these people who have come to our city and we aren’t able to help them properly,” he said when I caught up with him.

Within that surge were people who would commit crime, get caught, then — untreated — be spat out of the revolving door to do it again.

Police were overwhelmed, with one high-stress call after another. “This was every day, non-stop.”

 

 

 

More: https://www.timescol...y-grown-4756068

 

[pontcanna]

Nanaimo City Council poised to increase policing budget by $2.28 million

November 23, 2021

Nanaimo City Council will spend $2.28 million more on its policing budget next year and some of the funding will be targeted toward combatting crime downtown.

Nanaimo resident Pat Murphy is among those who support the move. The 82-year-old was volunteering at the Vancouver Island Military Museum in downtown Nanaimo Saturday when he was assaulted.

Murphy said he found a set of stairs by the museum filled with people and he asked them to leave.

“I looked down to one of the people and he produced a knife in his hand, and when I was telling him to put the knife away somebody from down below jumped up and sucker-punched me in the face,” he said.

A nearby security guard called 911 but Murphy’s attackers fled before police arrived.

 

More: https://www.cheknews...million-916805/

 

[Victoria Watcher]

A Victoria courtroom erupted in violence Monday as a man who assaulted a Victoria police officer two years ago, leaving her with a traumatic brain injury, was sentenced to 15 months in jail.

 

Aaron Chaignon, 24, had been convicted Aug. 2 of assault causing bodily harm to Const. Jenny Lequesne, whose injuries ended her policing career.

 

Monday was set for sentencing, and sheriffs had cleared the hallway and were at the ready. Only lawyers for the Crown and defence, the accused and his parents, and Victoria Police Chief Del Manak were allowed in the courtroom.

 

Judge Karina Sacca asked Chaignon to stand. As soon as Sacca said the word jail, however, Chaignon began to scream, yelling: “I’m not going to jail. I’m not going to jail. I’m not going to jail.”

 

The sheriffs, who had been waiting in the hallway, rushed in, and the judge made a quick exit.

Chaignon, raging, screaming, kicking and flailing, was taken to the ground as sheriffs tried to calm him.

 

_______________________________________

 

Manak said Monday’s events in the courtroom show “our mental health system has failed us.”

 

“The extreme aggression and violence on hearing the judge’s decision on sentencing really highlights how broken the mental-health system is,” said the police chief.

 

Chaignon has a history of violence against police. Forensic psychiatric assessments found he was at high risk for violence and has a number of mental illnesses, said Manak.

 

“Why is an individual like this, who needs intensive mental health supports, living in supportive housing?” asked the chief. “I have an officer who has lost her identity, her career, her livelihood and suffered a traumatic brain injury. And we have an individual here that takes eight sheriffs to safely control him and take him into custody. It really highlights how changes are needed to our mental-health system. And this is the tip of the iceberg of what our officers are seeing on the street.”

 

Manak said jail is not the place for people like Chaignon with severe mental illness, who need intensive mental-health supports, and serious consideration needs to be given to involuntary care for individuals who cannot function in society.

 

“Why do we have to wait for someone to commit a criminal offence, ruin a police officer’s life before we come to the realization that the system is failing this individual?” asked Manak. “How many people and how many families are going to be destroyed on both sides?”

 

https://www.timescol...officer-4787139

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 23 November 2021 - 05:27 AM.

[Nparker]

Why indeed.

[spanky123]

^ I would have thought that the 15 month jail sentence for a career criminal who destroyed the life of a cop would have been the talking point.

 

Perhaps if the socialists stopped referring to everyone without permanent housing as having mental health issues then we could devote our resources to treating he people who can actually use the help. I understand the pay is a lot better if you are caring for someone who is 'disabled' though so that may be tough to change.

[spanky123]

garbage.  

 

if you cannot handle an interaction with a police figure or other person that doesn't share your skin colour or gender you have much larger life problems.

 

Last time I checked you cannot ask an employee their race or sexual orientation. I don't know how HR is supposed to label people then when they are hiring. In addition, anyone can self-identify as Metis.

[Nparker]

^ I would have thought that the 15 month jail sentence for a career criminal who destroyed the life of a cop would have been the talking point...

It's really not news to anyone that our judicial system is completely broken.

[spanky123]

It's really not news to anyone that our judicial system is completely broken.

 

Interesting that on the same day the voyeur got the same sentence. 

[Nparker]

Interesting that on the same day the voyeur got the same sentence. 

Perhaps 15 months was the "sentence of the day". Same punishment for every crime. The legal equivalent of a word-a-day calendar.

[Barrrister]

I suspect that our judicial system is in dire need of a review.

[Victoria Watcher]

One of the issues for police forces with a high rate of female officers is more injures and all forms of time off.  

 

 

 

https://cjr.ufv.ca/w...August-2018.pdf

 

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 23 November 2021 - 07:35 AM.

[Dexter]

That is an appalling sentence. What a joke our justice system is. Time and a half credit pre trial and statutory release at 2/3 of sentience. This guy would be back out in 6 months with exactly the same mental state.

My wife was attacked in 2016 by someone of the same caliber. Initially we were told he would be out is under 2 years. Furious, i was able to convince Crown to push hard and he ended up receiving 7 years. This was as the same time Constable Beckett killer got 4 years. We still feel incredibly fortunate. I think a lot depends on the crown prosecutor and the willingness to plea to lesser charges.

Perhaps 15 months was the "sentence of the day". Same punishment for every crime. The legal equivalent of a word-a-day calendar.

[pontcanna]

Saanich police seek an extra $1.45 million for 2022 budget

Department policing cost per capita among lowest for B.C. municipal police forces in 2019

Nov. 23, 2021

The Saanich police 2022 operating budget was presented to council on Nov. 15 with the request for an increase in funding of 3.88 per cent, or nearly $1.45 million.

Chief Const. Scott Green said in a presentation the increase is needed to fund additions to staff, wages and rising operating expenses.

More: https://www.vicnews....or-2022-budget/

 

[JohnN]

Saanich police seek an extra $1.45 million for 2022 budget

Department policing cost per capita among lowest for B.C. municipal police forces in 2019

Nov. 23, 2021

The Saanich police 2022 operating budget was presented to council on Nov. 15 with the request for an increase in funding of 3.88 per cent, or nearly $1.45 million.

Chief Const. Scott Green said in a presentation the increase is needed to fund additions to staff, wages and rising operating expenses.

More: https://www.vicnews....or-2022-budget/

 

SPD cost per capita of Saanich residents is lower than that of VicPD but so is crime rate and case load, according to BC Police Resources 2019, Table 10 (image below): https://www2.gov.bc....e-resources.pdf

Attached Images

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