Prince George Citizen September 20, 2018 by Prince George Citizen

Thursday, September 20, 2018 | Your community newspaperr ssince ince 11916

CITIZEN PHOTO BY BRENT BRAATEN

Helping raise readers Telus employees Victoria Davoren and Stevie Karran volunteered during the annual Raise-A-Reader fundraiser campaign on Wednesday morning. All the money raised by the fundraiser supports local children’s literacy programs.

Vanderhoof RCMP understaffed, Man jailed for attack in local park denied parole overworked says town’s mayor Mark NIELSEN Citizen staff mnielsen@pgcitizen.ca Vanderhoof is having trouble holding onto its police officers, the community’s mayor told a provincial government committee this week. Speaking to the select standing committee on finance and government services, Gerry Thiessen said the town’s detachment is understaffed and overworked to the point where few stay longer than they have to. While the workload for a typical RCMP member in B.C. is 58 cases, Thiessen said the average caseload in Vanderhoof is 122. “I talked to a young guy the other day,” Thiessen said. “He really enjoys being a policeman but he just wants out of town. He says ‘my T4 is incredible because of all the overtime I’m getting, but I’m not getting a chance to have a life.’” In the neighbourhood of six staff sergeants have passed through the town of about 4,500 people west of Prince George in the past six years and it’s reached the point where they no longer buy a home, Thiessen told the committee, which was in Prince George on Tuesday. Asked why the workload in Vanderhoof is so heavy, Thiessen said the town is not only located near a major centre in Prince George but is a “sub hub” itself with Fraser Lake, Fort Fraser and seven First Nations communities in its vicinity. Because Vanderhoof is small and out

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While the workload for a typical RCMP member in B.C. is 58 cases, Thiessen said the average case load in Vanderhoof is 122. of the way, “we don’t get the funding” and he noted the detachment lost an RCMP officer to First Nations policing despite being told the position would be filled. He contended strengthening policing in towns like his will help nip in the bud the trouble the Lower Mainland has with gang violence. “I think there is a lack of understanding that where these young people come from is from small communities and they eventually migrate down to where more activity can happen.” RCMP assistant commissioner Eric Stubbs has acknowledged the trouble the force has had attracting recruits to fill positions in the smaller communities. The RCMP is exploring the possibility of stationing members in regional centres like Prince George and then deploying them to outlying centres on an as-needed basis, Stubbs has said. With his town heavily hit by the wildfires this summer, Thiessen also called for a return to “broadcast burning” – or controlled burning to get rid of debris before it becomes the source of a major

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blaze. He said the assessment for fire danger in the region was conducted at a time when “we had a green forest.” “So you’re seeing loggers being asked to continue working even when it’s not safe to do so,” Thiessen said and added some have voluntarily stopped work to avoid sparking a fire. He said there was a time when workers would go around with drip torches to burn out the debris and to prompt the pine cones to pop and re-seed the forest floor. Although the practice produced smoke, Thiessen said it was nothing like what the area went through in August when it was so thick the streetlights remained on in the afternoon. Prince George Mayor Lyn Hall also spoke to the committee about wildfires and urged an updating of the method used by Emergency Management B.C. to process evacuees. He said it’s currently paper based and takes 25 to 30 minutes per person to complete. “This system needs to be automated, it needs to give us the opportunity to register quickly and renew quickly,” Hall said. “The important piece to understand is if we continue to run the manual system, we will continue to have to tap into some 2,000 volunteers and staff people if we are expecting to provide the service that we really need to provide these folks.” The committee is holding hearings across the province to gather advice on what should be included in the next provincial budget.

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Mark NIELSEN Citizen staff A man serving time in a federal penitentiary for an “unprovoked” and “savage” attack on a 66-year-old woman in a local park has been denied parole. In a decision issued in mid-August, a Parole Board of Canada panel found that if released Keanen Drew Norman Duncan, 25, would “likely commit an offence causing serious harm to another person.” The panel found Duncan has had trouble abiding by institutional rules and was involved in a serious assault of another inmate. According to the report, Duncan has acknowledged detention may be appropriate for him, so that he can participate in learning trade skills and in a sexual offender maintenance program. As well, Correctional Service of Canada has said he should complete the program while still in detention. Duncan did not provide any written submissions for the panel’s consideration and waived his right to a hearing. And so, the panel made its decision by way of a file review. In January 2016, Duncan was sentenced to a further four years in prison for the May 2013 incident for which he pleaded guilty to aggravated sexual assault, attempted robbery and uttering threats. The sentencing judge described the event as an “unprovoked attack that was brutal and savage.” In all, Duncan was sentenced to eight years less credit of four years for time served in custody prior to sentencing. Based on the attack and his criminal record for previous offences, Duncan was also designated a long-term offender. Consequently, he will remain under supervision for 10 years once he’s completed his sentence.

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