The province should heed the call by West Shore mayors for restoration of the regional crime unit, which was disbanded last year despite its success in dealing with property crimes.
The West Shore saw a 16 per cent increase in crime in the first three months of 2015, compared to the same quarter last year. That might not be proof of the need for the regional unit, but it鈥檚 certainly strong evidence.
The integrated unit was formed in 2008 to target prolific offenders and had considerable success.
The unit started to come apart when Victoria鈥檚 police department withdrew in 2009, citing budget concerns. Other municipalities followed suit, and the unit was left with the participation of only Saanich and the RCMP. It was dissolved at the end of 2014 despite the provincial government鈥檚 efforts to strengthen integrated regional policing.
In October 2014, the government introduced legislation that included an amendment to the Police Act that was supposed to 鈥渃larify government鈥檚 authority to sustain and expand integrated policing teams and other specific, specialized policing services,鈥� according to the government鈥檚 summary of the legislation.
Now, West Shore mayors are asking that the province bring back the regional crime unit to track prolific offenders across municipal boundaries.
Several integrated policing units operate in the region, and they do well. One weakness, though, is the voluntary nature of such arrangements. Individual municipalities struggling with budgets can choose to withdraw.
The province should back its words with actions by insisting on more integrated policing, and it should back those actions with suitable funding arrangements.
