My response to this article (September 25, 2010)
In today's Vancouver Sun, MLA and former Solicitor-General Kash Heed made the comment "If we're leaving it to [police chiefs and mayors], it's not going to happen. The province definitely has a leadership role to fix policing in British Columbia." The article goes on to discuss regional police forces in Metro Vancouver and Victoria. The article builds on Mr. Heed’s comments by pitting local elected officials against Mr. Heed’s comments, which are not really helpful but makes for a good story.
Mr. Heed was Solicitor General of BC, also known as the top cop. What did Mr. Heed do during his tenure to bring together all levels of government and police forces to discuss his vision? As Mayor of Port Coquitlam, I don't recall being invited to the discussion.
In fact, Metro Vancouver Regional District, under the leadership of Chair Lois Jackson (Mayor of Delta) brought together local government, police chief's, the RCMP and province for a multi day workshop to discuss policing in Metro Vancouver. One of the outcomes was a creation of a new committee at Metro Vancouver. The purpose of the committee is as follows:
The Metro Vancouver Task Force on Policing Issues is a select committee established by the Metro Vancouver (MV) Board to provide oversight on the development of the Metro Vancouver Policing Issues Position Paper and report its opinions and findings to the Board or individual municipalities, as the case may be.
The member's of the committee consist of Jackson, Lois (C) –Delta, Watts, Dianne (VC) –Surrey, Corrigan, Derek –Burnaby, Fassbender, Peter –Langley City, Moore, Greg –Port Coquitlam, Robertson, Gregor –Vancouver, Walton, Richard –North Vancouver District, Wright, Wayne –New Westminster as well as RCMP Assistant Commissioner Peter German, Vancouver Police Chief Jim Chu and Delta Police Chief Jim Cessford. This group meets to discuss regional police issues. For the first time, locally elected officials, RCMP and Police chiefs are meeting on a regular basis. Mr. Heed would know about this group because he attended a meeting last year as well as a meeting with the Metro Vancouver Board of Directors. I don't recall Mr. Heed or the provincial government staff talking about Provincial or regional policing.
As you can see, we already have a group of community leaders coming together to make our policing service the best it can be. There is always more room around the table for the provincial government. Working together we can make the system better not blaming one another.
Next week the Union of British Columbia Municipalities (UBCM) will hosting their annual general meeting. I am confident, when we bring together elected officials from all parts of BC as well as the BC government there will be good discussions on policing and the need to work together to provide the best service we can. Representatives from Metro Vancouver will be meeting with the current Solicitor General Mike de Jong to discuss policing. I hope one of the outcomes of the meeting will be to work together on regional issues, including policing.
