(This column was published in the North Shore News on Nov. 19, 2003)
Governments must fight street crime
By Leo Knight
ALL the attention Vancouver's skyrocketing crime rate is getting is good.
But, what those in charge are prepared to do about it is bad.
In Saturday's Vancouver Sun, columnist Pete McMartin discussed the situation in an interview with Mayor Larry Campbell. The mayor, in a very troubling response, essentially said we have to put up with it.
He was asked directly by McMartin if the people of Vancouver are going to have to put up with it. Campbell responded, "I think yes. And it doesn't make me happy to say that.
"This is not a simple problem," he said.
Well, I certainly agree it's not a simple problem, but I'm pretty sure surrender is not an appropriate response.
For the past few weeks the provincial government and the city government have been booting the issue back and forth. But not with a view to finding solutions - rather, they have all been recognizing it is a problem but each blaming the other in a game of political mud-slinging.
MLA Lorne Mayencourt called Coun. Jim Green a "poverty pimp." He followed it up with a sharp rebuke. "We have seniors getting mugged in their own buildings. I don't see that council addressing those issues," he said. "We cannot sacrifice our world-class city and our way of life to an eroding standard of behaviour."
Green fired back, blaming the Gordon Campbell government's budget cuts for the escalating problem of homelessness and drug addiction.
The Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General, Rich Coleman took his own shot, "You actually need in the City of Vancouver a council that wants to stand up and back its law enforcement community in order to have the proper community standards as far as enforcement is concerned," he said.
While there's probably some truth on both sides, the problems won't be solved by having two of the three levels of government shooting at each other instead of recognizing their own responsibilities.
In truth each level of government must shoulder their part of the blame and start doing something to fix a badly broken system. You know, be the leaders they were elected to be.
The federal government is responsible for the legislation which deals with crime and the administration of justice.
The provincial government is responsible for the actual administration of justice, prosecutions and the courts.
The municipal governments are responsible for the service delivery, so to speak, for the funding and administration of the police who enforce the laws.
Each level has, as its primary duty, the responsibility to protect the public. Each level is failing badly in that duty.
The feds have consistently refused to address issues such as mandatory minimum sentencing regulations to mute the effect of the judicial activism that has become so prevalent. Equally, their priorities on spending have everything to do with getting re-elected and their supporters' pet causes. They have done precious little to address the serious threat that organized crime poses to this country. Neither have they addressed the ridiculous application of the conditional sentencing law.
The provincial government, for its part, has not addressed the issue of the charge approval system as it is practiced in B.C. Nor have they properly funded the justice system so there are enough prosecutors to deal with the huge number of charges the police want to proceed with, but cannot. Equally, there must be enough courtrooms with judges and support staff to streamline a court system staggering under the weight of court cases waiting to be heard.
Campbell's government, Larry's that is, refuses to accept there is something which can be done to combat the problems facing our society. Handcuffing a police force that is seriously undermanned is not the answer.
Surrender is not an option. To let the inmates run the asylum, for this is what Mayor Larry is saying, is plain wrong.
The battle against crime in our society may never be won. But surely it is a battle which must be waged.
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