An innovative way to address developing community problems before they become police problems or require other emergency services could be coming to Williams Lake.
RCMP Inspector Milo MacDonald says he’ll be going to Surrey next week to watch their SMART-Mobilization and Resiliency Table in action.
He says there are somethings in policing that the police don’t have to take the case to a successful resolution.
“We might just be a band-aid for the moment that the phone rings and to handle that situation, but in many of these cases the people that are involved would really benefit from having homelessness advocacy on their behalf or an opportunity to be treated within the healthcare system, or an opportunity towards education or employment.”
Surrey’s Smart Program that was launched in fall of 2015 is made up of various human service professionals who meet each week to review cases where there is a high risk of harm, victimization, or criminality for an individual or family.
They develop and execute a rapid response intervention plan within 24-48 hours if they determine the situation is of elevated risk.
Williams Lake would be the second community in BC to have the program.
Latest crime stats meanwhile have shown an increase in crime rate predominantly reflective to activity that happened in January.
MacDonald says although the month of February showed improvement due to RCMP incarcerating six of the City’s 12 prolific offenders the culminated stats for the period are still high.