Province announces $5M police initiative fund for property crime

The B.C. government says it’s allocating $5 million to strengthen policing in the province’s downtown business centres.

The province announced Friday the Community Safety and Targeted Enforcement (C-STEP) program aimed at protecting property for businesses and addressing public-safety “challenges.”

A government statement says the funding will “provide police with enhanced tools, technology and investigative resources to curb property crimes.”

“In addition to enforcement, C-STEP will also support police initiatives to develop co-ordinated operational plans that unite law enforcement, businesses, outreach teams and social services to deliver a strategic, preventive approach to tackling street disorder,” said the statement.

Terry Yung, minister of state for community safety and integrated services, says all B.C. police agencies are encouraged to apply for funding with an operational plan.

He says the program started two weeks ago, but Chief Supt. Wendy Mehat, president of the B.C. Associations of Chiefs of Police says a plan for tracking the results of each initiative is still to come.

In recent months, the City of Vancouver provided the Vancouver Police Department $5 million to enhance police presence in the Downtown Eastside, with critics saying policing alone is not the answer, and comparing the initiative to placing a band-aid on a bullet wound.

When asked how $5 million is expected to address property crimes provincewide, Yung said that figure is just the start.

“The province is going to continue to support policing in every way we can… We’re going to continue to monitor that. But that doesn’t preclude other investments the province is making in terms of housing, in terms of health care, mental health, drug addiction treatment, poverty reduction and other social service agencies that we’re funding. So yes, I understand we have lots of work to do, but this is the beginning,” said Yung.