City of Williams Lake launching public inquiry on prolific offenders

The City of Williams Lake will be launching a public inquiry into the sentencing of prolific offenders.

The City of Williams Lake has been calling for stronger sentencing for prolific offenders released into the community, but the City says the judiciary has failed to take into consideration community safety on releasing public defenders.

Inspector Jeff Pelley of the Williams Lake RCMP has provided the City of Williams Lake with profiles of 3 of 14 prolific offenders in Williams Lake to demonstrate the types and frequency of criminal offenses.

• As of 2019, Offender A has been charged with 22 offenses as an adult, and has been convicted of 10 of the listed offenses, and received a stay of proceedings in the remaining 12. Offender A accumulated 87 files as a youth, and 189 files to 2019 as an adult (115 of which were events where the offender was designated a negative role code). Of the 115 events, 14% were property-related, 22% were breach-related, 26% were persons offences or related to weapons/public safety, and 30% were other. On average, as a youth the offender came into contact with law enforcement every 27 days between 2007 and 2018, and as an adult every 11 days from 2013 to 2019.
• Offender B has been charged as an adult for 143 offenses, and has been convicted for 54 of the listed offenses. Of those 143 charges, 57 are related to breaches, 48 are property-related, 26 are a persons offense or related to weapons/public safety, and 12 are other related offenses. Offender B has accumulated 265 police files to 2019 as an adult, and has come into contact with law enforcement every 18.5 days from 2007-2019. Of the 204 events in which the offender was designated a negative role code, 41% were property-related, 29% were breach-related, 15% were persons offenses or related to weapons/public safety, 13% were other and 2% were drug-related.
• Offender C has been charged with 62 offenses to 2019 as an adult, and convicted for 18 of those offenses. Offender C  has accumulated 277 files to 2019 as an adult, and has come into contact with law enforcement every 13 days from 2009 to 2019. Of the 129 events in which the offender was designated a negative role code, 34% were persons offenses or related to weapons/public safety, 28% were breach-related, 12% were other and 6% were drug-related.

Mayor Walt Cobb and Councillor Scott Nelson said in a letter the purpose of an inquiry would determine why so many prolific offenders with serious charges are constantly released into the community with ineffective deterrents to re-offend.

During the City of Williams Lake Council Meeting on Tuesday, February 9th, Councillor Nelson said “People are extraordinarily frustrated, the system is tired, it’s old, it’s beat up, and it’s crumbling, and it’s crumbling with support from law-abiding citizens because they’re absolutely frustrated with what’s going on”.

Cariboo-Chilcotin MLA Lorne Doerkson was in attendance via zoom, and says this isn’t just happening in Williams Lake.

A number of community groups and prominent citizens in the community have expressed their support for the community in re-instating GPS monitoring of prolific offenders in Williams Lake.