According to the most recent Statistics sa国际传媒 report, Victoria leads the country in newly reported non-violent crimes, such as property and drug offences. We also show the second-highest increase in crime severity, with a year-over-year increase of 16 per cent.
By comparison, more than half the country鈥檚 larger cities have reported declining severity rates.
Might Victoria鈥檚 rising crime rate have anything to do with the fact that various city councillors have urged reallocating funds away from the police department?
What were our law-enforcement officers supposed to think when Coun. Ben Isitt asked chief of police Del Manak for his views about disbanding the Victoria Police Department?
We鈥檝e seen south of the border what happens when local politicians call for defunding their police forces 鈥� serious surges in crime rates. In essence, officers understand they face a hostile audience among the civic leaders they report to.
As a result, retirements are at a record high in American law-enforcement agencies, as staff grasp the reality that every decision they make is second guessed.
If our police officers weren鈥檛 demoralized by calls for their disbanding, I鈥檓 pretty sure they were when so-called street artists incorporated ACAB 鈥� all cops are bastards 鈥� into a street mural in Bastion Square.
The purpose of the mural, commissioned by city council and funded by the taxpayers, was supposedly to advance the cause of justice and peace.
Yet after weeks of 鈥渘egotiations,鈥� the 鈥渁rtists鈥� in question replaced ACAB with a statement that their message 鈥渉as been censored by the City of Victoria influenced by the Victoria Police Department 鈥� contributing to the silencing of Black and Indigenous voices 鈥�.鈥�
When an unnamed gentleman took matters into his own hands and spray painted over this elegy to peace, Mayor Lisa Helps said it showed the City still had a long way to go in dealing with systemic racism.
Now I disagree with this guy鈥檚 approach. I would have preferred a jackhammer.
But how do you deal with systemic racism by calling every police officer a bastard? Isn鈥檛 that hate speech?
The Supreme Court of sa国际传媒 has said that hate speech is speech that may incite violence against a person or a group.
Doesn鈥檛 stigmatizing law enforcement staff as bastards do exactly that?
It鈥檚 necessary to say a word here about Manak. When the ACAB mural first appeared, he protested strongly to city council, on behalf of the men and women he represented.
When ACAB was replaced with the statement about censorship, he repeated his opposition. Then went about his job.
That isn鈥檛 good enough. The man had a principle to defend, namely that a police chief doesn鈥檛 stand by and watch this affront continue.
His proper course of action was to meet with Helps, who co-chairs the Victoria/Esquimalt police board, and give her an ultimatum.
Either the offending message is removed by end of week, or you have my resignation on your desk.
I recall occasions in my own career where I put my job on the line. Ineffectual bleating doesn鈥檛 cut it.
So now Victoria is on the way to becoming the crime capital of sa国际传媒. Well done, city council. You鈥檝e managed to accomplish in a few short years what generations of civic leaders failed to bring about.
