Kathy Michaels - Penticton Western News Published: July 17, 2009 2:00 PM
Murders in the Okanagan could soon be investigated by a valley-wide task force. "What's happening is that one of the senior management officers in the South East district, out of Kelowna, is putting all the facts together and gathering the statistics to provide (Okanagan) mayors with a proposal," explained Insp. Brad Haugli of the Penticton RCMP. If created, the team would work on homicide cases in Vernon, Kelowna, West Kelowna and Penticton—similar to the system in place in some parts of the Lower Mainland. While Haugli said he hasn't been in the Valley long enough to voice an opinion on whether or not this kind of unit would be ideal locally, he did say it works well in the Lower Mainland. "Municipalities that are in the program are, for the most part, happy wit the service they get from the integrated model," he said, adding Vancouver and Delta are two municipalities that don't participate. And, he explained, the key factor to implementing that kind of task force is frequency.
"Unfortunately, this year alone the Lower Mainland is already up to 47 homicides," he said. "With the integrated model, (police forces) have the ability to cover off and investigate the cases properly, while attachments don't have to provide their own resources to investigations, on a lengthy basis." The proposal has yet to be finalized, and a lot of factors would need to be weighed in to assess whether or not the unit would be an ideal fit for Okanagan communities.
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