‘It’s chaotic’: B.C. community plagued by public disorder gets help

Officials in Williams Lake are holding off on declaring a state of emergency over local crime after the RCMP promised to send more officers.

A promise of help for a B.C. community plagued by public safety issues has the city council holding off on imposing a local state of emergency, at least for now.

But will more police officers be enough to tackle the public disorder the community is facing?

“It’s chaotic, it’s (a) crisis and its fearful,” said Williams Lake Coun. Scott Nelson.

“The province and the feds have just downloaded, really, the crazies onto our streets and made the communities look after them, and we just don’t have the resources.”

Resident Brenda Weekes has seen her share of problems in the community, including people passed out on her front lawn and even the road.

She’s also dealt with break-ins.

“They’ve broken into our shop multiple times, into the house,” she said. “We’ve seen them start fires. We’ve found numerous stuff they’ve stolen in the yard.”

Weekes added that she once feared she’d be assaulted.

“Two girls approached the truck with a stick and a broom, so I wasn’t going to get out of the truck,” she said. “Every other day you’re calling the RCMP about something.”

Williams Lake Mayor Surinderpal Rathor said council considered imposing a local state of emergency until Victoria responded to its cries for help.

“I can not thank enough to the provincial government. They took our request very seriously and considered it and provided us the help,” the mayor said.

In a letter sent to council, the Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General wrote that it had reviewed the situation.

“The Provincial Director of Police Services directly contacted RCMP E-Division senior leadership to request that they take immediate (action) to supplement the local RCMP detachment’s crime-fighting efforts,” the letter reads. “The RCMP committed to deploying the Cariboo-Chilcotin Crime Reduction Unit to Williams Lake to assess the situation and develop operational plans as required.”

The mayor said that hardly a day passes that his office doesn’t get a complaint from a concerned resident.

“People are getting broken into, fires (are) being started,” he said.

Part of the problem he sees is that even when arrests are made, the accused are often back on the street the next day.

But he also said the difficulties Williams Lake is facing are not unique.

“(The) issue is not only Williams Lake, as you know. It’s not only B.C. It’s all over Canada,” Rathor said.

Rudy Wassenaar, a dentist in Williams Lake, said the area near his office is plagued with problems.

“I have people next to my office lighting fires, congregating, smoking crack. So, we call police and they come and disperse them. They don’t really arrest them, I don’t think,” he said.

“One time, (police) confiscated an axe, a machete, and just yesterday, the neighbouring business, they tried to light a fire,” Wassenaar said. “I think it is an emergency if it affects people’s lives every day.”

Nelson felt a local state of emergency would have seen faster action on the problems.

“It would do a clean sweep of the city and three things: One, you go to a shelter, two, you go to jail, or you go to involuntary treatment,” he said.

Council will review the effectiveness of the promised measures from the province in a couple of months to see if they are working.