THE Province announced on Saturday that it has received the final investigative report about the challenges of repeat offending and unprovoked, violent stranger attacks that some communities are facing.
In co-operation with the BC Urban Mayors’ Caucus, the Province hired experts in mental health and policing, Amanda Butler and Doug LePard, to conduct a rapid investigation into these public safety challenges and recommend evidence-based solutions to keep people and communities safe.
More than 60 experts with practical or academic knowledge contributed to the report, including mayors, police, the BC Prosecution Service, health authorities, the Crown Police Liaison Committee working group and many others. The BC First Nations Justice Council provided a written submission to the investigation panel, which is fully endorsed by the investigators.
The full report follows the release of 28 recommendations that were released on September 21.
Many of the report recommendations align with work underway, and the experts said these co-ordinated efforts will make a difference on the ground and in people’s lives. The Province said that it has been working to build a comprehensive system of mental-health and addictions services to get people help to break the cycle of offending, so that everyone can live in safer communities.
The Province is working on three recommendations:
* bringing back the prolific offender management program that ran from 2008 until 2012. The program had success bringing together community partners such as police, mental-health and community support service providers to monitor and help offenders break the cycle of repeat offending and was shown to reduce repeat offending by as much as 40% in the first year;
* establishing a dedicated provincial committee to co-ordinate supports for people with complex health-care needs in the criminal justice system; and
* supporting work by the BC First Nations Justice Council to develop a pilot program based at the Prince George First Nations Justice Centre to better support Indigenous people who come into conflict with the law.
The Province said it continues to work through the recommendations with partners to identify how government can move quickly to implement changes to improve public safety for everyone.
Learn More:
To view the full report, as well as the BC First Nations Justice Council’s submission to the investigation panel, visit:Â https://news.gov.bc.ca/files/
To read the September 21 announcement about the 28 recommendations: https://news.gov.bc.ca/
