Prolific offenders continue to be a problem for the Powell River RCMP detachment.
According to staff sergeant Rod Wiebe, at any given time, there are normally three and six prolific offenders in the community.
“Between 2020 and 2022, the top five offenders had 644 contacts with police in Powell River,” said Wiebe. “The top offender had 217 contacts with police. This is a consistent problem in Powell River, which revolves around whether or not the offender is in custody. Currently, all five are in the community.”
In a report to City of Powell River Council, February 15, 2022, Wiebe reported on the effect some repeat offenders have on RCMP resources.
He said the criminal justice system is a huge challenge for the RCMP, even though they are part of it.
“It’s very offender focused and it challenges all of our crime reduction strategies that we’ve been used to implementing over the last 10 years,” added Wiebe.
He provided a case study of a 36-year-old male subject, who has had 156 police contacts since January 2019. The subject had a criminal record with seven convictions, all from 2020.
Wiebe provided an extensive list of police contacts with this individual, some happening on a daily basis. While the RCMP tried to hold the offender in custody on several occasions, the subject was released by crown council.
Wiebe said there were two other prolific offenders during the year, which was largely responsible for an 18 per cent change in property crime in three months of the year.
“Those are the kinds of challenges we’re facing with the justice system,” said Wiebe. “The courts make the decisions, crown has to abide by those decisions, and they fall down to our practices and procedures, and often we’re at odds.”
