The province’s expansion of a program designed to target chronic offenders responsible for the most property crime in B.C. is being touted by community safety groups. But some business owners don’t know how it can prevent the frequent damage to their shops.

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John Neate Jr., the founder and CEO of JJ Bean, said his coffee shops have frequently had windows shattered and bathrooms smashed up but often the damage happens after hours or is discovered once the perpetrator has already left.

He said he isn’t sure how a provincial program can be of much help unless it involves undercover police officers or security guards who can restrain an individual until police arrive.

“I just don’t know how they’re gonna capture these people, even when you get them on video or camera, they never seem to. I’ve never ever heard of anybody being arrested, even though they have in the past asked us for cameras,” said Neate.

“Breaking and entering, there’s probably a better chance of someone getting caught, because … there’s an alarm, etc. But the problem with breaking the windows is if they’re doing it just out of pure mental anxiety from overdose, or whatever, they throw a rock and leave.”

The program will set up teams of prosecutors, corrections and probation officers, and mental health professionals to monitor those who have been charged repeatedly with breaking and entering, breaking windows or vandalism.

It is modelled after a pilot program the province brought in three years ago and which it says has proven successful in lowering violent crime in the communities where it is operating.

Public Safety Minister Nina Krieger said the province is pouring $16 million into the program to expand it to 12 more communities after the pilot in Nanaimo, Kelowna and Nelson.

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The new hubs will be in Chilliwack, Courtenay, Dawson Creek, Langley, Maple Ridge, Penticton, Surrey, Victoria and two in Vancouver. Nanaimo, Kelowna and Nelson’s hubs will continue operating.

‘This model essentially brings together police, prosecutors, and corrections to ensure that there’s a stronger police response, that we’re strengthening justice system co-ordination and creating opportunities for individuals that are offending to connect with supports,” said Krieger.

What this means in practice is that probation officers and police will be in frequent contact with chronic offenders while mental health professionals and other experts connect them with housing, addiction supports and mental health care.

There will also be information sharing among police, probation officers and correctional officials to ensure reaction to any crime is swift.

Nanaimo Mayor Leonard Krog said he has been hearing from his city’s RCMP detachment that the pilot was effective in getting people off the streets and into the supportive programs they need.

He said simple prosecution has proven ineffective for some people and a new approach was needed.

“There’s a reduction in crime, and you’re getting people off the streets who would otherwise be occupying a great deal of … paramedics, firefighters and police time,” said Krog.

“Police and jails are not frightening for people who have serious mental health, addiction trauma, and brain injury issues.”

Jess Ketchum, co-founder of the Save Our Streets public safety advocacy group, said he has been hearing from people in Kelowna, Nanaimo and Nelson that the pilot worked in bringing down property crime but the proof will be in how successful it can be at a larger scale.

He said that estimates show that fewer than 500 individuals are responsible for 50 per cent of the property crime, retail crime and street disorder in B.C. and any intervention that can help monitor those individuals and prevent them from committing vandalism or theft is welcome.

“There’s been some positive results as a result of the focus that the program brings to chronic offenders, and so they’ve replicated that now dealing with property crimes,” said Ketchum.

Rebecca Burrows, owner of Hughes Clothing and Hughes for Men in Oak Bay, said her men’s clothing store was robbed in January of $20,000 worth of merchandise.

She said that she has since spent $14,000 installing aluminum doors and security cameras, with the person who robbed the store never caught. She hopes the new program will prevent her from having to go through something like this again.

“I think anything is a good thing, as far as you know, monitoring these individuals. I think that we’ve let it go for so long, and these repeat offenders just get slapped on the wrist and they’re out doing it again the next day,” said Burrows.

“It’s a tough nut, because you have these things happen and you make insurance claims, then insurance goes up, or you can’t even get insurance, so you just end up eating the cost yourself.”

alazenby@postmedia.com

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