On March 19, the Burns Lake RCMP updated the Village of Burns Lake on their last year’s initiatives.
Staff Sergeant Shaunna Lewis informed council that the Burns Lake RCMP will increase its management, which will help it have more supervising capability. “Our department has increased by 17 police officers, including a new Sergeant position,” she said. She added that the province had thought of replacing the current Burns Lake RCMP station within the last five years.
“I think it would take another five years before they talk with us since the building still functions,” she said.
Lewis said that the number of 911 calls significantly decreased between 2022 and 2023. “We’re down about 100 calls,” she said.
She said that the decreased calls were from assault break-ins, which caused disturbance and criminal code driving. She added that there was an increase in well-being check calls and motor vehicle accidents.
She informed the council that last year, the Burns Lake RCMP focused on motor vehicle enforcement due to an increase in ticket violations. These violations were caused by impaired and distracted driving. The RCMP also initiated foot patrolling around the downtown corridor to reduce vandalism and loitering thefts.
Lewis said the program was successful and helped to decrease criminal activity. She added that the RCMP’s school presentation on sextortion, bullying, and impaired driving made a lot of impact on the students to create awareness.
Last year, seven RCMP police officers transferred out, and only three positions were filled. Two cadets will be joining at the end of March and May. She anticipates that there will be five more open positions this year.
She told council that the province introduced a new initiative known as the Repeat Violent Offending Intervention Initiative, led by BC Corrections. This initiative brings together police, dedicated prosecutors, probation officers, and correctional supervisors to provide early interventions in cases involving repeat violent offending crimes.
Another new initiative was E-ticketing, a new format for printing violation tickets using a driver’s licence.
After the presentation, Mayor Henry Wiebe said he’s looking forward to seeing all the changes within the Burns Lake RCMP, and council agreed.