Police union calls for “comprehensive public safety plan” ahead of BC provincial election

VICTORIA — The national union of RCMP officers wants to make public safety and bail reform an election issue in British Columbia after repeat offenders were arrested for violent crimes, including two gruesome attacks in downtown Vancouver last week.

The National Police Federation says it has launched a “pre-election program” calling on the winner of the October 19 election to present a “comprehensive public safety plan.”

It describes the current bail system as a “catch and release” system and claims that it lacks evidence-based support and monitoring of repeat offenders, resulting in a threat to public safety.

Brendan McBride, 34, was arrested last week in connection with two stranger attacks in downtown Vancouver that left 70-year-old Francis Laporte dead and another victim's hand chopped off.

According to court documents, at the time of the attacks, McBride was on probation for an attack in White Rock, BC, last September. The man had previously been sentenced to 12 months' probation in July 2022 for another attack in North Vancouver.

National Police Federation vice president Rob Farrer says the timing of the organization's call before the election was more of a coincidence, as it was more of a response to recent cases such as the attacks by strangers in Vancouver.

“It's not about the election itself,” Farrer said. “We're trying to make sure we're keeping an eye on it. We hear from our officials, they see it every day, and the people of British Columbia and Canada in general see this as a big problem.”

He also said that while provincial governments tend to point out that bail reform is a federal government issue, that does not absolve provinces, including British Columbia, of not doing enough.

“We demand that the new administration be truly prepared to present a comprehensive public safety plan that includes the design of bail reform initiatives – and not simply say it is the federal responsibility.

“Because it is not just a federal responsibility. It is a shared responsibility of both governments.”

Many of the initiatives called for by the association will be addressed in a report the group will publish in July 2023 on Canadian bail reform.

In the report, the association called on provinces to improve data collection and sharing on criminal cases across Canada, so that judges can get a more complete picture of a person's criminal history when making bail decisions.

Farrer said greater investment in and use of technology to monitor bail enforcement should also be part of a comprehensive response to the problem of repeat offenders in our society, as should standardised training qualifications for judges who preside over bail hearings.

“It's not just us saying that,” Farrer said of the association's call for reform, pointing to a survey commissioned by the group in British Columbia in August that found 82 percent of respondents were concerned about crime by repeat offenders.

“I think that's a very, very large majority of people across the province … who feel that the current systems are not meeting their needs. And as a result, we're seeing incidents like the one in Vancouver.”

The National Police Federation is Canada's largest police union, representing approximately 20,000 RCMP members at home and abroad.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published September 9, 2024.

The Canadian Press