A new survey suggests individuals throughout the province believe addiction and mental health are the root cause of B.C.’s public safety decline, and they are urging governments to take more stringent approaches to deal with crime.
The online survey released by Save Our Streets (SOS) on Tuesday portrayed the opinions of B.C. residents on crime, public safety, addiction and the approaches that should be taken to solve them.
For crime, 55 per cent of those surveyed said they believe criminal activity has increased in the last four years, and nearly three-quarters (74 per cent) of participants said this is impacting their quality of life.
Alarmingly, a significant number of respondents say they have also lost their faith in the justice system, with only 38 per cent of them stating they have confidence in the system's capability to deal with crime.
Overwhelmingly, 88 per cent of individuals blame the current crime and public safety situation on addiction and mental health, with 67 per cent describing the use of prescription and non-prescription opioids as a major problem.
Addiction to opioids was also considered to be a health issue by 82 per cent of participants.
Importantly, a large amount of crime is also being committed by those without mental health conditions or addictions, SOS chair Clint Mahlman told BIV.
“We can't forget, and I'm relying on Dr. Julian Somers’ research, that just under 50 per cent of all crime in Vancouver is also conducted by people without a mental health [condition] or addiction,” said Mahlman, co-founder of SOS and president and COO of London Drugs.
Eighty-one per cent of respondents blamed the current situation on poverty and inequality, while 79 per cent blamed the gangs and the illegal drug trade, 76 per cent indicated it’s an inadequate court system and 67 per cent said it was the lack of policing resources.
“As important as those are, we can't forget about the balance, that there's crime being committed by those that are simply criminals—criminals that are not receiving enough dissuading of continuing to commit their crimes,” added Mahlman.
A recent controversial policy put forward by both the BC NDP and BC Conservatives was the involuntary treatment plan, to which 75 per cent of respondents agree should be implemented.
This figure underscores the importance of providing urgent and effective solutions, according to those surveyed, of which 66 per cent also said the justice system is not doing enough to respond to addiction and mental health.
Furthermore, most subjects believe the federal government is not doing enough (66 per cent), compared to 61 per cent for the provincial government and 49 per cent for the police.
“We're imploring all levels of government, regardless of political stripe, to take the same approach of working together,” said Mahlman.
“But time's running out on them, as the survey shows, people are fed up, and they will hold those elected officials to account that have been talking but not acting on this.”
The vast majority of individuals surveyed by SOS support a change in police, justice system and government approaches towards tackling crime, public safety and addiction, including modifying B.C.'s bail system (87 per cent) to ensure repeat offenders remain in custody while awaiting trial. The same percentage supports harsher penalties for such offenders.
“I think that is one of the things that frustrates me as a retailer, and many of the service industries in British Columbia,” he said. “We see the same people coming in multiple times a day, and they tell us there is no accountability.”
“'I'm not afraid. I'm not going to go to jail. So why would I not keep coming in and do what I need to do?'” he added.
Eighty-six per cent of respondents also support an increased police presence where drugs are being sold illegally, and 85 per cent feel it’s necessary for the federal government to re-deploy police forces to Canada’s ports to fight transnational crime.
Seven in 10 said the B.C. government should provide financial support to businesses affected by crime and vandalism—factors that increase costs for customers and owners.
“This isn't theoretical, there's lots of B.C. businesses that have closed,” said Mahlman. “You look at downtown San Francisco, Portland, Seattle, which are becoming ghost towns because of policy decisions that the governments didn't take action on, and it's incredibly expensive to recover.”
Although there are substantial calls for change when it comes to approaching mental health and addiction, the survey shows a mixed bag of support towards older and newer policies.
A controversial policy put forward by the BC NDP was the decriminalization pilot project, of which only 38 per cent of respondents support for personal use.
Eighty-three per cent of respondents are showing support toward newer facilities for those experiencing mental health conditions and for more educational campaigns about drug use.
Another 81 per cent support more spaces for rehabilitation and 79 per cent support available housing units for individuals committed to finishing a detox program and recovery program.
Meanwhile, 63 per cent still support safe supply programs and 53 per cent believe in setting up more harm reduction strategies like safe injection sites.
“‘Save Our Streets’ is non-political. We don't affiliate with any party. We just want solutions, and we strongly believe these issues … deserve to be very much at the forefront of this election campaign,” Mahlman told BIV.
“We've been imploring for all levels of government and all political stripes to come together and take action. The depth of the feeling from all regions of the province should be alarming to those wishing to be elected.”
The online survey was conducted between Sept. 9 and 12 by Research Co. from a representative sample of 1,200 British Columbians. The survey's margin of error is plus or minus 2.8 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
