Official move the right one

Apr 08 2007 EDITORIAL http://www.vernonmorningstar.com/

Right from the beginning in December, when he was named interim Inspector of the Vernon/North Okanagan RCMP detachment, Steve McVarnock made it clear he wanted the job permanently. On Wednesday, the RCMP rewarded McVarnock for his four months on the job by removing the interim label and officially making him the head of the detachment. The move should be applauded by the community. In four months, McVarnock has made it his mandate to clean up Vernon’s downtown core to make it safe for everyone, and to get prolific offenders – five per cent of criminals who commit 80 per cent of the crimes in the area – off the street and behind bars.

So far, McVarnock’s mission is showing signs of success. Two undercover stings near Cenotaph Park and the Upper Room Mission resulted in 18 arrests and a myriad of charges against said prolific offenders. A “red zone” was created at Cenotaph Park, meaning anyone previously arrested there that is caught in the zone will be arrested again. McVarnock’s reference to drug trafficking at the mission as an “epidemic,” and comparing the area to Vancouver’s downtown Eastside, resulted in the mission’s board taking immediate action to clean up its operations. Besides prolific offenders and the downtown core, shutting down crack houses and making beaches and lakes safe are high on McVarnock’s priority list for 2007. He’s also going to make a large push to have late auxiliary officer Glen Evely’s name added to the national RCMP memorial. At only 45, McVarnock still has plenty of years left in his career. We hope the majority of those years will be in Vernon.