Williams Lake action plan on crime proposes tracking repeat offenders

Crime in Williams Lake, B.C., has prompted local officials to propose an action plan that includes electronic monitoring for convicted criminals.

The cost of policing in Williams Lake has increased by 76 per cent, or $2 million, over the past eight years in the small Interior city, but the crime rate remains high, according to RCMP Staff Sgt. Del Byron.

"We came to the conclusion it wasn't an RCMP issue, it was a court issue," says Williams Lake Mayor Walt Cobb. 

One of the primary issues the community faces is repeat offenders, according to Cobb. Byron said there are 14 repeat offenders in the community who are on the RCMP's radar.

"Those kinds of repeat offenders are ridiculous," Cobb told Daybreak Kamloops host Shelley Joyce. 

The plan largely focuses on the use of electronic monitoring, such as ankle bracelets, to track the location of repeat offenders who have been convicted of a crime. This way, Cobb said, police wouldn't need to constantly check on those individuals in their homes. 

"Our police are continually going back over 100 times in one month," he said.  "They have to go back and check, not one person, but many, many people."

This isn't the first time the city has proposed monitoring devices to limit criminal activity. In 2016, council wanted to put GPS trackers on prolific offenders and in 2018 council called on the province for increased support for an electronic monitoring program for offenders. Both attempts were unsuccessful. 

Not possible at municipal level, says BCCLA

Meghan McDermott, a lawyer with the B.C. Civil Liberties Association, said that an action plan like this can't be enforced at a municipal level and would require changes to provincial and federal laws.

Monitoring devices can only be mandated by a court. Municipalities don't have jurisdiction over criminal law. 

"It's up to the judge and there's no way that judges are going to look at the six-point crime action plan from a municipality. They're not going to give it any heed at all whatsoever," said McDermott.

"The only time that their discretion is kind of limited or restricted at all is done through the criminal code."

Victim impact statements

Williams Lake's mayor is no stranger to crime: his home was broken into a few years ago. He learned the 36-year-old man responsible had been in and out of the local court system 78 times in 18 years.

Cobb blames the court system for giving criminals the chance to go in and out of jail, without major consequences. 

The mayor has been visiting the Williams Lake courthouse regularly to make victim impact statements about how ongoing crime in the city affects the community as a whole. 

"We're trying to attract professionals. We're trying to attract doctors and nurses and teachers ... to come to town and they look at the crime stats," he said. 

He's hoping to revive a volunteer-run court watch — a group of people who go to court to keep track of repeat offenders and their sentences. 

"If we're able to prove, 'OK this guy's been there 78 times in the last 18 years,' then they've got to know that there's something wrong with the system," Cobb said. 

Additionally, Cobb would like judges to articulate, in writing, their rationale for releasing repeat offenders without monitoring — electronic or otherwise. 

Before all of this can begin though, the mayor and city staff will have to meet with judges and the RCMP to talk about the plan. 

"We need some support," Cobb said.