Oil wealth will bring more crime, Williams tells police

A campaign stop at Royal Newfoundland Constabulary headquarters gave Danny Williams a platform Monday to highlight his crime-fighting strategy.

Williams said the Progressive Conservatives, if re-elected on Oct. 9, will add to the ranks of the provincial force, in part to deal with crime that may arrive with a booming offshore oil industry.

"Criminals move on weakness, and they move in areas where they think they can gain an advantage. We are in a much stronger position than Fort McMurray and we're ready," Williams said.

"We don't succeed if we build a prosperous, affluent society and there's a lot of crime here," Williams said.

The governing PCs laid out their crime-fighting strategy last week, with the release of their campaign platform.

To attract attention to a pledge that will add 10 officers to the RNC ranks each year for three years, Williams was flanked by PC candidates running in St. John's-area districts.

The Tories are also pledging to provide more resources of various crime-fighting programs, from Crimestoppers to anti-bullying campaigns.

RNC Chief Joe Browne said he liked what he heard, including an Amber alert system for child abductions, and an accompanying unit dedicated to fighting the sexual exploitation of children.

"We know so much of the stalking and the exploitation are occurring online… so giving us the additional resources to get our heads turned to that and to make some inroads there is so critical for us," Browne said.

Stephanie Carter, one of a group of RNC cadets that attended Monday's event, said she was attracted to the force because of the extra resources that have been directed to the police recently.

"I think a lot of the things that are going on right now certainly made the decision for me to do it," she said.

The RNC polices urban areas in Newfoundland and Labrador, while the RCMP is responsible for rural communities.