City RCMP’s success studied

Tim Petruk - Kamloops This Week Published: September 23, 2010 3:00 PM 
Calling the Kamloops RCMP “a police department that has really kicked ass,” a pair of Lower Mainland criminologists announced this week the local detachment will be the focus of a study aimed at finding out how to apply what is being done here in other jurisdictions. Darryl Plecas and Terry Waterhouse, both from the University of the Fraser Valley in Abbotsford, spoke to reporters on Wednesday, Sept. 22, about the study.  “Kamloops is, I think it’s fair to say, fairly well-established as a police department that has really kicked ass,” Plecas said, noting he and Waterhouse were looking for a detachment that would continue to see a dramatic decrease in crime numbers for the study. “It would seem as though Kamloops is the one place in the province . . . where that success is most likely.”
Plecas said the Kamloops detachment is an example of a police force successfully employing crime-reduction strategies. “The whole business of crime-reduction started right here in British Columbia — at least Canadian crime-reduction,” he said.

“It’s really been Kamloops which could be held up as an example of how to do it really, really well.”
Despite all the success within the local detachment in recent years — calls for service are down 30 per cent and reported property crime is down 64 per cent since 2007 — the detachment has faced a number of very public challenges in recent months.  Plecas said high-profile events like the so-called cellblock incident — in which four Mounties are alleged to have watched two female prisoners have sex inside the detachment’s cellblock last month — and recent criminal charges against other local officers can’t be tolerated.  “Whenever we hear these things . . . it’s horrifying,” he said.  “Police officers are symbols of justice. We have every right to expect that they’re beyond reproach.  “They should be special and my personal view is that we should have a zero-tolerance [approach] on behaviour which is criminal or which is unbecoming of a police officer.  “If these people are found guilty of some wrongdoing, then come down on these people with full force.”  The study is expected to last at least a year.