Crime Prevention in Community Supported by Dawson Creek Mall Patrons

Volunteers are being sought for the Dawson Creek Citizens on Patrol program, which provides a great deal of information that assists in RCMP investigations. All that is required of applicants is that they be at least 19 years old and submit a criminal record check. Such volunteer programs serve as excellent prerequisites for anyone interested in becoming an RCMP officer or for those who simply want to be more aware of what is happening in their community.

These efforts all serve the community in commendable ways, to be sure. But the benefits for volunteers are many and the experience will have lasting effects in their future lives. If you are interested in volunteering for such groups, either in Dawson Creek or elsewhere, it would be well worth your while.

Citizens on Patrol, along with the Rural Crime Watch, Speed Watch, and Restorative Justice programs, forms a group known as the South Peace Crime Prevention Association of Dawson Creek, British Columbia. Until December 23, volunteers and members of the Dawson Creek RCMP are wrapping gifts by donation to raise funds for the Association. The funds from gift wrapping have generally been used to send volunteers to crime symposiums and different workshops that help them when they are on patrol or working in partnership with the RCMP and the community.

Should you want to volunteer with community groups like these and need to provide a criminal record check, you can be assured of professional, efficient, and discreet assistance from Pardon Services Canada.

If you currently have a criminal record, you are well advised to contact Pardon Services Canada to have that record removed, restore your sense of well being, move forward.

Giving Victims and Communities a Voice

An approach being considered for dealing with the Stanley Cup rioters is one that represents viewing conflict as an opportunity for a community to learn and grow, operating on the premise that conflict, even criminal conflict, inflicts harm. Individuals must accept responsibility for repairing that harm. Communities – family, peers, professionals – are empowered to choose their response to conflict: Victims, offenders, and communities actively participate in devising and implementing mutually beneficial solutions.

This restorative justice approach has the accused meet with the person the crime impacted, apologize, and then both sides work out a punishment. Restorative justice is designed to put more focus on the victim who, in the conventional court process, doesn’t get a voice beyond making a victim impact statement. Victims are basically excluded in the legal process, except as witnesses. The community doesn’t have a place within the criminal justice process. Through restorative justice, victims get a clear voice. The focus is on victim needs, offender responsibility, and community building.

In October, the Vancouver Police Department recommended 163 charges against 60 individuals suspected of taking part in the Stanley Cup riot. At this time, more than 60 charges have been laid against 25 people, and the VPD is finalizing the next batch of charges to be forwarded to the Crown in the coming weeks. As for the rest of the suspected rioters, evidence is still being reviewed.

All well and good – or is it? Some people are skeptical as to the type of punishment that will ultimately be handed down. Will many rioters simply be given a slap on the wrist; will some actually do jail time; how much probation will be meted out? And what good will any type of punishment actually accomplish?

To set the record straight, so to speak, restorative justice is not soft on crime. Far greater creativity exists in restorative justice in determining what needs to happen to make amends, set things right. The approach has been used successfully with all kinds of conflict, including serious crimes like assault and murder.

Canada was the first nation to offer a victim/offender reconciliation program, initiated by the Mennonite Community in Kitchener, Ontario. Viewed world-wide as having experts in the field of violent-offence (post-incarceration) mediation, Canada has also been on the leading edge of adopting the Aboriginal concept of circle remedies, now an integral part of progressive programming in the federal justice system.

We will continue to see offenders acquiring criminal records, but with restorative justice, conflicts will be resolved in a way that restores harmony in the community members’ relationships and allow people to continue to live together in a safer, healthy environment.

And anyone with a criminal record who sincerely wishes to make a new start can do so by obtaining a record suspension to remove that criminal record. Pardon Services Canada will handle the entire process, assuring you of results. Call 1-8-NOW-PARDON (1-866-972-7366) to speak with a Client Specialist.