Calls for defunding police are a simplistic approach to a complex problem and, instead, B.C. should review its 45-year-old Police Act, Premier John Horgan said Friday.
Police are increasingly burdened with a range of challenges that include homelessness, mental health and addiction, and more funding is needed to address those issues, he said.
It’s inappropriate to expect law enforcement to take on those issues as they also deal with public-safety concerns, Horgan said, and communities need to ensure they’re not asking police for more than they’re capable of delivering.
Calls for defunding have come after George Floyd died in Minneapolis, Minnesota, when a police officer kneeled on his neck. Four officers face charges.
Those calls mean the time is right for B.C. to review its Police Act, Horgan said.
The province is expected to create a committee to consult with communities and experts on how to best update the act.
Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth said he will table a motion to strike the committee when the legislature resumes this month.
“Everyone deserves to be treated fairly by police and our government acknowledges that for many Black, Indigenous and other people of colour that hasn’t always been the case,” he said in a statement.
“Ensuring the police are held accountable to the highest standards for fair and unbiased conduct is crucial to maintaining public trust,” he said, adding officers require a modern policing structure that provides greater clarity for their roles.
“Expectations on front-line police responders have grown and our policing and public safety model needs to reflect communities’ current and future needs.”
Victoria Mayor Lisa Helps welcomed the review.
“Any legislation that’s 45 years old definitely needs to be reviewed and we will look forward to participating in that review,” she said.
Helps expressed hope that any review will examine the requirement that mayors also chair municipal police boards.
“It is very difficult to wear two hats,” she said. “So that’s one change that I’d like to see — that mayors will continue to sit on the police board, but to not be the chair or at least have the option of not being the chair.”
Helps dismissed the notion of disbanding the Victoria Police Department, saying such a suggestion “doesn’t make any sense to me.”
Coun. Ben Isitt raised the issue at a council meeting on Thursday, asking Victoria Police Chief Del Manak what he thought of calls by some to disband police departments.
“I wonder if you could speak to that — the wisdom or the prospects or the feasibility of disbanding VicPD and replacing it with a new structure,” Isitt said.
Manak responded that he couldn’t see that happening.
“I know what the police do,” he said. “I know how we treat people with dignity and respect and how people lead with caring and compassion, and the service that we provide which is much needed.”
Manak added that the community requires officers with a high level of training to carry out complex investigations and deal safely with violent offenders, organized crime and gang activity.
— With The Canadian Press
