Richmond Review, December 12, 2014

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Public Menorah lighting at Minoru Plaza on Tuesday 28 / Grilled cheese in Steveston 25

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Community support for Richmond Christmas Fund Many hands make light work, and indeed that’s been the case for the Richmond Christmas Fund Roundtable Army, which started with just five members and has now swelled. When Wayne Duzita became chair of the Christmas Fund, he knew more people were needed to take the organization to the next level. At Thursday’s Richmond Chamber of Commerce’s Christmas Luncheon, Duzita applauded those who have stepped forward to ask what they could do for the organization. Martin van den Hemel photo

Complexity of policing taxing local force Richmond has fewest number of officers per capita in region, something a councillor calls ‘absurd’ by Matthew Hoekstra Staff Reporter Technology, an increase in mental healthrelated calls and a demand for greater transparency have all “substantially impacted” the work of local police officers, according to a

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new report that highlights the growing complexity of policing. Richmond RCMP brass delivered their 20152017 strategic plan to a city council committee this week, pledging to reduce property crime and vehicle collisions while boosting community engagement and youth intervention, along with disrupting organized crime. But the local detachment, like other forces in Canada, faces growing complexity in policing—and that’s taxing a force with the lowest number of officers per capita in the region. According to the RCMP, technological advancements have made new tools available for criminals—and opened new avenues of

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considerable detachment resources in terms of the number of calls, as well as the length of time officers must spend to find both short and long-term solutions for those who, as a result of a mental health challenge, generate police calls for service.” Also stretching police resources is the demand for transparency and accountability, leading to an “unprecedented” investigative and administrative burden. The Richmond report points to a study by the University of Fraser Valley, which researched the time officers spent on cases from 1983 to 2003. See Page 5

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investigation for police. “Offenders are increasingly exploiting the convenience and concealment the Internet and progressively mobile computer technology offer,” says the report, presented Tuesday. “Almost any traditional crime can be committed with the help of technology.” Canadian police forces are also being taxed with more calls related to mental health—as officers have become “de facto frontline social and mental health workers.” Richmond RCMP responded to 4,200 calls related to the Mental Health Act from 2010 to 2013—a period when such calls jumped 52 per cent. “Mental Health Act-related calls consume

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