Crime is Number 1 Issue this Civic Election

It isn't just hysterical media. Tom Broadbeck says crime was worse in Glen Murray's time. It was. We were in an arson and car theft death spiral. It declined by 2014 through better car theft protections from manufacturers and focused police efforts. Likewise, the arson squad arrested some of the worst repeat offenders and it helped. We are about to head back to school in days and you have to wonder: Are we headed for an ever worse crisis?

Safe to say that hard drugs is likely the the culprit in the rise of violent and non-violent crime we are seeing post pandemic now.  And what is getting people is that police response time is just not where it needs to be. Case in point. CTV was reporting a fireworks retailer at 4 PM has an alarm going off, the owners on the phone with 911 and an employee hiding in a backroom while someone is able to go methodically through every drawer to steal as they please. The 911 operator did not believe the threat and the police did not respond. On the same weekend a father posted to TikTok how his 14 year old son and his friends were robbed of their backpacks and possessions and still faced assault with a hammer. The 911 operator argued with the father and said police could not come to every assault. They eventually showed up at 1 AM to talk to the sleeping traumatized son.

Bike theft is not even reported anymore by many because the solution rate to the crime is tiny. The police did arrest two in River Heights who had four bikes and other contraband with one heck of a lot of weapons. One had an outstanding warrant. Excellent work.  Hopefully they are not out Monday and back at it. And hope that some people who had their bikes stolen recover them.

This should not reflect on individual police but if we are at emergency readiness every minute of every day, the police chief should call a news conference and state what he needs. We need answers. What should the response time be? Are we in a state of emergency? Do we need 50 more officers, 100 more officers, 500 more officers?

And city candidates, we about to head into the first days of September this week. What are you going to do about it? What? Random murders are happening. Police shootings. Break-ins and theft all over the city. We cannot have people hiding in bedrooms, backrooms and behind counters with no police response. The holidays are over. It is starting to feel like a war and we are losing.