Victoria police, RCMP quit regional unit

B.C. Solicitor General Kash Heed wants to meet with the Victoria Police Department and the RCMP after the two forces served notice they are leaving a regional crime-fighting unit for financial reasons.

Heed, a former West Vancouver police chief and an advocate for joint policing initiatives, said the Victoria-area regional crime unit is a success and he wants to discuss the decision with both forces.

"Police are ultimately responsible for deciding how to deploy their officers," said a statement from Heed on Friday.

"However, we recognize the value of co-ordination of police resources in the Capital Regional District. We also recognize the success this unit has had since its formation."

Victoria Police Chief Jamie Graham said he was preparing to inform the Solicitor General's Ministry about his department's decision to leave the unit, but he broke the news to other police departments and Victoria city hall first.

Wants larger regional force

The Victoria-area unit was formed in May 2007, when the Public Safety and Solicitor General's Ministry announced it would be made up of 16 members, including three RCMP officers and an RCMP crime analyst.

About six months after the Victoria unit was formed, then-solicitor general John Les said he would examine the possibility of a new metro police force for the Vancouver area.

Graham, a former Vancouver Police Department chief and high-ranking RCMP officer, said he wants a regional police force in the Victoria area but he can't afford to contribute officers and cash to the regional crime unit.

He said the Victoria area, with more than a dozen communities, is served by the RCMP and five municipal police departments.

"It's an unbelievable patchwork quilt," Graham said. "It should be a regional force, right from that ferry terminal to Oak Bay to the Western Communities. It could be the Saanich-Victoria Regional Police Department."

'Not the end of the world'

Victoria contributed four officers and about $500,000 annually the the regional unit, Graham said.

"Without any funding at all, just for me next year to turn the lights on and have the same number of officers I have right now is still well over a $1-million increase to our budget. I cannot fund what I want to do."

Graham said he needs extra money to pay for a new radio system for officers.

'We have made the difficult decision.' —Victoria Police Chief Jamie Graham

He also said Victoria Police is looking to form a domestic violence unit.

Graham said the regional unit has had its successes, but properly deployed officers from within his own department could do the same job for less money.

"We have made the difficult decision to withdraw from the crime unit," he said. "It's not the end of the world. What they do, it can be done elsewhere by other units."

Unit had big successes

The regional crime unit was involved this week in the largest drug bust in the Victoria area's history, netting 22.5 kilograms of cocaine and more than $400,000 in cash.

In 2007, the Solicitor General's Ministry said the unit would focus on chronic and repeat offenders committing the most prevalent crimes in the Victoria area.

It allowed police to investigate across jurisdictions to collect intelligence and target offenders, the ministry said.

Within the first few months, the regional unit charged 22 people with more than 100 crimes, recovered more than $100,000 in drugs and stolen property and cracked a mail-and-identity theft ring that resulted in five arrests.

In August 2008, regional crime unit undercover officers arrested eight people linked to the Red Scorpions gang dealing drugs in Victoria.

Crime unit officers conducted a drug bust last February in which they seized $650,000 worth of cocaine and paint cans modified to transport cocaine.