518 replies to this topic

[wisevictoria]

This arrangement seems pretty reasonable to me. If neither the Oak Bay PD nor Saanich / Victoria are unhappy, and the Oak Bay residents are  happy to pay for what they are getting, who is put out? 

 

In a general sense, I think that centres of excellence / specialists are a logical thing to have. If an extremely complicated criminal investigation is needed / if a particularly complicated medical surgery is needed / if a very specific point of law needs to be challenged before the courts etc… bring in the big guns. For most of the day to day operations, use the generalists who can handle 90% of the issues that come up.

 

It just seems like a good allocation of specialized and limited resources.

[Mike K.]

But gentlemen, are you not sidestepping the issue that while Oak Bay can bring in specialists when needed other communities pick up the slack by policing OB residents when they leave their small area to engage in virtually every activity other than sleeping, and those communities pay quite a lot for that policing while themselves dealing with an overstretched department?

The most sensible thing to have happened in the CRD was the merging of VicPD with EsqPD. And we really should be having a discussion about what's best for this region we all live in and not what's best for Oak Bay, don't you think? We can justify how good OB's setup is all day and OB can think other's are jealous of their setup, but really OB is turning it's back on the policing reality in this city. Meanwhile it acknowledges it needs the help of other police departments which the other departments provide as they recognize we're all in this together. And one has to wonder just how much OB has paid the departments in other jurisdictions for their assistance. Is it pennies on the dollar? Is it a fully calculated 100% reimbursement for every thread of exertion by those forces or is it a profit maker for the assisting municipality? It would be good to know if anyone has numbers.

[Mike K.]

This morning a very compelling read was published by VicPD: http://vicpd-stroies...t-dave.html?m=1 .

Now consider that there are countless individuals like this coming through VicPD's jurisdiction. This one municipality together with the police force they fund are the hub of so many policing/criminal spokes and it's unfortunate that the idea of a balkanized policing system continues to be celebrated in light of the realities of this region.

[spanky123]

Could Oak Bay save money by contracting out police work ... probably. If the Oak Bay taxpayers are happy paying a premium to have their own local force then fine with me, I don't live in Oak Bay.

 

I think that any police force needs to staff for the environment they work within. I wouldn't expect any force anywhere in Canada to have homicide detectives if they experience a violent crime one every few years.

[phx]

This morning a very compelling read was published by VicPD:

I see you've been cultivating your Victoria Attitude.

 

Anyhow, the real reason Oak Bay needs their own police force is that the IRSU would not dedicate a squad car to patrolling Tinto Street.

[Mike K.]

^

But what's a Victoria Attitude?

[Coreyburger]

Oak Bay does pay Saanich for all the services they provide (I don't know how mutual aid calls work, this is for the routine work). If this wasn't working for Saanich PD, they would have pulled out or raised the rates during the last round of contract re-negotiations. (FYI, I live in Oak Bay). Also, the recently-left Oak Bay PD chief added some basic detective training and they actually take some of the smaller cases again.

[Bingo]

A Central Saanich man died Monday morning after his pick-up truck jumped a centre barrier on the Pat Bay Highway and hit oncoming traffic, delaying northbound ferry traffic for an entire day. -

 

Saanich police Const. Andrew Harward, a collision reconstructionist investigating the scene, said the truck’s mechanics will be examined and its event data recorder investigated. -

 

See more at: http://www.timescolo...h.bzuAs469.dpuf

 

Nice to see Saanich Police investigating the scene. Do we need a new thread for this as well?

 

[Mike K.]

Which just further trivializes the situation. While Saanich runs around conducting investigations for forces that can't deal with the policing they are tasked with VicPD is overstretched with policing over 200,000 people who come through the City of Victoria on a daily basis, without so much as a token of support from Saanich PD and the other "forces" in the region.

 

And that's just sad.

[G-Man]

Exactly regional crimes and social issues should be paid for regionally. Instead Victoria and Esquimalt taxpayers are subsidizing the policing for all the other muni's. It would be great if a Saanich criminal just stayed in Saanich just don't think that is likely.

[Bingo]

Thank-you mods for getting rid of that other thread and amalgamating the comments here.

[Bingo]

The Regional Crime Unit is an integrated unit comprised of police officers from the Saanich Police Department, Oak Bay Police Department, West Shore Detachment RCMP as well as Provincial RCMP. 

 

Since 2008 the Regional Crime Unit has been pursuing its mandate of proactively targeting the region’s most prolific criminal offenders. -

 

See more at: http://www.saanichpo...h.NtVpgin3.dpuf

 

 

No mention of Victoria being involved.

[Mike K.]

Selective mentions maybe? Or perhaps VicPD jumped ship, who knows. But this is from the 2009 BC Government press release:

 

The unit will target criminal activity like residential and commercial break and entry, possession of stolen property, auto theft, identity theft and robbery. It will be composed of dedicated police officers from the independent municipal police agencies and municipal and provincial RCMP.  The participating communities are: Victoria; Saanich; Sidney; the Westshore communities of Langford, Colwood, the Highlands, Metchosin and View Royal; Esquimalt; Oak Bay; Central Saanich; North Saanich; and Sooke. The Province is supporting the RCU with three provincial officers and a crime analyst. Recruitment for the unit will begin early this summer and the unit will be fully functional by January 2009.

 

 

Thankfully the province has stepped in and has tried to corral the policing fiefdoms to some degree, but this is just a tiny piece of the policing puzzle in this region. Really it's not even a piece, it's a morsel.

[Bingo]

Selective mentions maybe? Or perhaps VicPD jumped ship, who knows. But this is from the 2009 BC Government press release:

 

 

Thankfully the province has stepped in and has tried to corral the policing fiefdoms to some degree, but this is just a tiny piece of the policing puzzle in this region. Really it's not even a piece, it's a morsel.

The Saanich Police report is from January of 2014, five years after that press release, and it does show some degree of co-operation between the various forces, which includes the often singled out Oak Bay force.

 

If the Victoria Police are understaffed perhaps the city needs to quit experimenting with projects like closing roads in Beacon Hill Park, and redirect those funds to the VPD budget.

 

See more at: http://www.saanichpo...h.NtVpgin3.dpuf

Edited by Bingo, 12 February 2014 - 07:27 AM.

[Mike K.]

The City of Victoria should man up and go to each abutting municipality and demand compensation for policing their residents

[VicHockeyFan]

Ya, Victoria left the regional unit.

[phx]

The City of Victoria should man up and go to each abutting municipality and demand compensation for policing their residents

 

lol, and you're expecting a free lunch too, right?

[Bingo]

The City of Victoria should man up and go to each abutting municipality and demand compensation for policing their residents

 

Before they do that, Victoria should get their own house in order and keep their undesirable residents out of the adjoining municipalities.  

[LJ]

Exactly regional crimes and social issues should be paid for regionally. Instead Victoria and Esquimalt taxpayers are subsidizing the policing for all the other muni's.

 

Maybe VPD could get rid of all their "experts" and just employ them on an as needed basis. Maybe contract with Saanich which doesn't seem to have any problem "renting" out their employees.

[Mike K.]

One force, folks. This split-up nonsense is just that, nonsense. Granted 50 years ago this may have made sense but now it's a convoluted, expensive and often ineffective patchwork that needs to be addressed for the good of everyone in the CRD.