Overview
- The B.C. government launched the two-year, $16-million Chronic Property Offending Intervention Initiative on Monday to track roughly 420 people and create 12 regional multidisciplinary teams.
- Those regional teams will bring together police, prosecutors, probation, corrections and health or social-service staff to share information, plan releases and provide quicker supervision or supports and to inform tougher bail and sentencing where needed.
- The program expands pilots started in November in Kelowna, Nanaimo and Nelson, which the province says helped stabilize some property-crime trends and reduce break-and-enter incidents in Kelowna.
- Advocacy groups and some business owners welcomed the enforcement focus but warned the plan risks treating symptoms without enough investment in mental-health care, addiction services and supportive housing and questioned what will happen when the two-year funding ends.
- Officials say they will track outcomes; a key measure to watch is whether the coordinated approach lowers calls for service and business losses and whether the province secures long-term funding and expanded social supports.