Prince George- Mackenzie MLA Mike Morris agrees the Police Act needs to be reviewed after the government launched a committee to submit a final report for the spring.
Morris believes the Car 60 program in Prince George needs to be upgraded.
“I think we should be expanding that Car 60 program to every detachment in the province that can support it. A detachment like Prince George should have multiple Car 60’s so they can meet the demand for service.”
“The bigger detachments there is no question that they can support that and they have a call for service that would require that the smaller ones have always been problematic when providing that service and I look at it much like a breathalyzer operator. In a small detachment, you might only have one or two but those individuals would be on call all the time to come out and help with those calls and those kinds of investigations.”
“Mental health would be no different if you had an officer who is highly trained in mental health issues along with a mental health worker in that community that would probably suffice.”
From 2015 to 2019, Prince George saw a 120% increase in the number of mental-health related calls.
However, Northern Health reported Car 60’s use has remained consistent despite the increase.
The matter will be discussed at the next council meeting on July 27th.
However, Morris disapproves of any motion to defund the RCMP in our province.
“Anyone that is calling to defund the police has no idea what the police do. To lessen the amount of police officers who are out there would affect a lot of the criminal investigations that are ongoing right now and a lot of the criminal activity that takes place right now.”
According to Morris, criminal files account for 30% of a police force file load while the remaining 70% deals with social justice issues.