The Save Our Streets Coalition is calling on the senior governments to take action in the wake of a survey that shows more than half (51%) of British Columbians fear they will be a victim of a crime.
Jess Ketchum, co-founder of SOS, says the survey also showed that more than half of the respondents felt that crime had gotten worse in the past four years and 56 percent blamed addiction and mental health issues for the dire circumstances being experienced in their communities.
Ketchum says drug addiction and mental health issues are health issues, and people need to be provided with the very best opportunity to rid themselves of those ailments.
“They need to be able to get into treatment right away and carry on into recovery right away, and it needs to be available to them when they need it and wherever they are in the province of BC. So it’s not just the downtown east side, it’s in communities like Quesnel, as far as you want to go north, south and to the island. We don’t have enough facilities, services, to treat people with those illnesses, as you would people with heart disease or cancer, this is another illness just like that, and where those patients get treated well and get treated almost immediately, somebody who is addicted and on the streets doesn’t have that ability.”
Ketchum says they are also calling on the federal and provincial governments to broker the necessary agreements and bring about the necessary reforms to stop the revolving door for chronic repeat violent offenders.
“They’re picked up by the police, put into custody and the next day they’re out. The public is very worked up by that and it’s a real problem because these people are just going out again and committing crimes again, and not only can those crimes become violent crimes and people get injured, but we’re not doing anything to resolve that.”
Ketchum says it’s not just disheartening to the public either.
“It’s certainly disheartening to our police forces who get so frustrated that they’re picking up the same people day after day after day, and I can tell you that from some of the retailers with Save Our Streets, they see the same people committing these crimes in their locations, in their stores day after day after day, so it has to stop.”
Ketchum says governments also need to invoke policies that make gangs fear for their futures as much as citizens across B.C. fear for their lives.
He says the criminal element preying on marginalized people, perpetuating addictions and encouraging crimes to support those addictions are the same people that are shooting up our streets and endangering everyone near them.
“In addition, there are near daily reports of drug dealers and producers exporting drugs to other countries from B.C. People in B.C. are dying, communities are deteriorating, businesses are closing, family supporting jobs are being lost, and community services are evaporating. It’s time for the public to demand real change.”
Save Our Streets is a coalition of 100 community and business organizations representing every region of B.C., which is committed to seeing governments bring order and public safety back to communities across the province.