It's kind of ironic that three days after the first homicide on the Sunshine Coast in five years, the minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General Kash Heed released statistics stating B.C.'s crime rate is the lowest in decades.
Heed said the overall crime rate in the province is down for the fifth year in a row, with property crimes plummeting to the lowest recorded number in 30 years and violent crimes declining to a new 20-year low, according to the most recent Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics for 2008.
There were 2,131 fewer violent offences, leading to a six per cent drop in violent crimes. Motor vehicle thefts dropped by 15 per cent - resulting in 4,152 fewer vehicles stolen. Weapons offences decreased by 17 per cent, with 900 fewer offences recorded. There was also an 11 per cent decrease in the number of youths charged and a 12 per cent drop in the number of youths in contact with police.
But not all crime in B.C. showed a decrease in 2008, as a total of 117 homicides were recorded, 29 more than in 2007.
Last weekend Sechelt added to those troubling statistics.
Phillip Joe Jr. is facing a charge of second-degree murder for allegedly stabbing his brother during a violent altercation outside a home on Sechelt Inlet Road last Friday night during a house party. Family members are struggling to come to grips with this shocking and troubling crime. The incident has also left members of the Sechelt Indian Band traumatized by the incident. They have been holding counselling sessions this week, and Chief Garry Feschuk has been meeting and counselling the family.
So why did this incident happen? It's a question that many in the community are trying to answer. Hopefully, when the matter comes before the courts, we will get some answers. In the meantime, it is up to our justice system to deal with these violent crimes. Are the police doing a better job? In some cases, yes, and in some cases, no. More work and funding are clearly needed, otherwise we wouldn't be reporting on seven people being killed or wounded in weekend knife attacks in the Lower Mainland and here on the Sunshine Coast.
Fighting for more funding for the arts and fighting the new Harmonized Sales Tax are all laudable and should not be put on the back burner, but crime and punishment still should be a funding priority. We need more police and more prosecutors. We need more police to get the weapons off our streets. We need more police to get illegal drugs off our streets. In short, we need less crime and more punishment.
