An expanded Vancouver Island major crime unit is needed as communities grow and serious crime increases, local mayors say.
Sooke Mayor Maja Tait and Nanaimo Mayor Leonard Krog both welcome an initiative of B.C. Solicitor General Mike Farnworth to examine the expansion of the Vancouver Island Integrated Major Crime unit to all Island communities.
Farnworth has directed the province’s policing and security branch to work with the B.C. RCMP on the issue. He has written to 22 Island municipalities, First Nations and police forces inviting them to participate in preliminary consultations.
“Our population is 16,300 and growing, and as we grow, our challenges grow too,” said Tait, who has been calling for Sooke to be included in VIIMCU since 2016. “It’s been such a live file for so long because it’s something we want to be part of.”
So far, the province has absorbed the cost of serious crime investigations in Sooke. But Tait is worried that in future, the municipality could be on the hook for more complex major homicide investigations.
Krog pointed to the fact that there are almost a million people on Vancouver Island. In the past five years, Nanaimo’s population has grown 10.3 per cent to 103,000.
“We are a larger community now and with that comes all those other things,” said Krog. “We had a Hells Angels clubhouse here for years. … And as a port city, we attract a level of crime that other communities don’t as well. Historically, that’s where drugs come into the —country.”
Farnworth cited the steady increase in the number of homicides in the province — and the impact they have on the community — as one of the reasons for an expanded unit.
There were seven homicides on Vancouver Island in 2019, but 19 in 2021, followed by 18 in 2022. Nanaimo had the most homicides on the Island — five in 2020 and four in 2021.
“Nanaimo has a significant number of homicides for a community of our size. … It has placed incredible pressure on our resources,” said Krog. “To do a murder investigation properly takes a lot of people power. The work has to be done properly and it takes time. What’s being talked about now is a big step forward.”
VIIMCU currently has 35 employees, both police officers and civilians, from the RCMP and Central Saanich, Oak Bay, Victoria and Saanich police departments.
It was created in 2007 in recognition of the fact that homicide and suspicious-death investigations are extremely complex, require a high degree of expertise and are resource-heavy, said Victoria Police Chief Del Manak.
“The concept is a good one because it’s an insurance policy. You contribute resources. You pay into it. You may not necessarily use that resource, but it’s there in the unlikely event that your community ends up having one or multiple homicides within a short period of time,” said Manak.
Smaller agencies like Oak Bay and Central Saanich have to participate in the unit because they wouldn’t have the resources for a major investigation and could go bankrupt, he said.
The regional unit gives participating municipalities the expertise and the resources to do a proper and thorough investigation, said Manak, adding officers seconded to VIIMCU also develop expertise that they bring back to their departments.
“Their development is off the charts for any other investigation they have to undertake, like a serious assault. They have all the principles, they understand evidence management and investigative steps that are needed and how to write and prepare reports and how disclosure needs to be done for Crown counsel,” said the chief.
While Manak supports the idea of an expanded major crime unit, he said he wants to see the details. He wants to know how much it will cost and if he will need to contribute more than the six officers Victoria police already sends to VIIMCU.
“I need to be able to support an initiative that is going to spend taxpayers dollars in the most efficient manner,” he said.
Manak is also concerned about the model. He wants to know if there will be two teams — one for Duncan north and one for the south Island.
“Will my officers potentially be going on longer trips, overnight stays in communities we currently don’t have in our jurisdiction? It may impact their quality of life, the work-life balance for officers and their families if they are going to be on the road for longer periods of time,” said Manak.
Having an Island-wide service will provide consistency and fairness and a better overall policing service, he said.
“Why should some residents, depending on the community they live in, have access to a professional group of investigators that have a higher level of training and are able to carry out these complex investigations versus another community that may not have access to the same expertise?”
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