Campaigning for a community court in Kelowna

By Alistair Waters - Kelowna Capital News Published: June 15, 2009

Kelowna is continuing its push for community courts. The courts, which would focus on offenders facing shorter sentences for crimes such as break-ins and petty theft—crimes often carried out to pay for drug habits—not only have punishment component but also a treatment component. Leigh Campbell, chairwoman of the Kelowna Court Watch program and a co-chair of the local committee trying to convince the province to set up a community court here, said Monday such a move would help police in dealing with many repeat offenders. According to Kelowna RCMP Supt. Bill McKinnon, another co-chair of the committee, included in the top 25 repeat offenders that his officers deal with is one man who has been arrested 64 tomes.The person on the list dealt with the least amount of times has been arrested 19 times.“We have to find a better way of deal with these people,” said McKinnon. “We are spinning our wheels here.”

The community court, which would only be used here if the accused was willing to get the help he or she would be ordered to get if found guilty, is already up and running in Vancouver. But unlike the Vancouver model, described as a “Cedilla” by Campbell because of its specially-built $5 million court house, a Kelowna version would be a “Smart car,” she said. That’s because it would not require the same cash infusion from the province as Vancouver because a court in the existing Kelowna court house could be used. Still, there would need to be judges, lawyers and sheriffs, as well as other support staff, said McKinnon. There would also need to be a office space for the treatment agencies to which people sentenced by the court would have to deal with. “What we would be dealing with would be catch and support, rather than catch and release,” said Shelley Cook of the John Howard Society and a member of the community court committee. Cook, along with other committee members went to Vancouver recently to watch how the Vancouver community court operates and came away impressed. She said what is needed here is community and nd non-profit organization involvement.

While discussions for an expansion of the community court system to Kelowna started with former attorney general Wally Oppal, Campbell and McKinnon said they are hopeful they can continue with the new province, as its approval is needed. McKinnon declined to give a time frame for establishing community courts here but said he believes they are needed to deal with many of the repeat offenders his officers encounter.