Smithers town council is making some moves to try and address an uptick in crime in the community.
The town saw a sharp jump in its violent crime severity index last year of almost 30 per cent, according to data released in July by Statistics Canada.
Smithers RCMP detachment commander Staff Sgt. Mark Smaill attributed the numbers to increases in intimate partner violence and property crime in a letter to the editor (“Intimate partner violence and petty theft main contributors to jump in crime severity index,” Interior News, August 10, 2023).
At the last regular council meeting, council moved to form a select committee on community safety and well-being.
Councillor Genevieve Patterson made a motion earlier this year to create such a committee that would look at crime, addiction and homelessness, however, it was postponed until now.
Her idea behind the motion was to help reduce crime in town and uphold the vision of the Official Community Plan. In a report she wrote for council’s consideration, she stated taxpayers are already seeing an increase in costs incurred from homeless encampment clean-ups and an increase in taxation from the need to hire more RCMP officers.
Mayor Gladys Atrill said it was worth exploring the idea behind the committee.
“In the purest sense of what’s the job of local government, it’s not our job,” she said.
“However, it’s our problem. It’s our community. People are asking us to do something, we haven’t really figured out what to do, because it’s kind of an impossible problem.”
After a long discussion and a few of changes to her initial motion, council agreed to create a committee and direct staff to prepare a draft terms of reference for council consideration with the purpose of the committee to to report back to council with actionable recommendations on crime reduction and community safety.
However, not everyone was on board. Councillor Frank Wray voted against the idea of creating a committee but was in agreement with the terms and the direction to staff.
“I’m so worried about us,” he said. “We’re becoming Jacks of all trades and masters of none. And we have jobs that we’re supposed to be doing, and this is going to cut into it.”
READ MORE: Smithers violent crime severity index jumps nearly 30 per cent
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