2002/03 Annual Service Plan Report Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General

Year-at-a-Glance Highlights

• Established PRIME, the Police Records Information Management Environment, as the common police records information system for all police agencies in the province, which will enhance public safety and improve law enforcement. PRIME transforms the way police work, making it easier to retrieve up-to-the-minute information on criminals and to track patterns of crime anywhere in the province.
• Developed options for communities under 5,000 people and unincorporated areas to pay their own policing costs. Held a workshop at last year's Union of B.C. Municipalities convention to discuss these options as a first step in an extensive consultation process.
• Prepared an initial draft of a detailed five-year policing plan.
• Moved forward with our goal of integrating specialized police services, which will provide more efficient delivery of specialized services to all jurisdictions and give all communities access to sophisticated equipment and expert resources. The benefits are clear: resources have been maximized with lower operating costs and an increased integration of specialized services.
• Supported the merger of the Victoria and Esquimalt police departments to enhance public safety.
• Established new legislation, at the request of the police, authorizing them to impound vehicles involved in road racing.
• Closed nine of 20 adult jails while expanding six others to accommodate offenders in a more efficient manner and make optimum use of resources.
• Reorganized alternative measures and substance abuse programs to achieve efficiencies while guaranteeing provincewide coverage.
• Realigned funding for spousal assault treatment to provide standardized programming throughout the province. The new Relationship Violence Treatment Program complements the pre-treatment program (Respectful Relationships) delivered by Corrections staff.
• Established formal Keep of Prisoner agreements with eight municipalities to hold provincial prisoners in local lock-ups.
• Completed a comprehensive reorganization of gaming management in the province, including transferring responsibility of commercial bingo halls to the B.C. Lottery Corporation, establishing a new, decentralized approach to auditing gaming activities, and significantly restructuring the gaming licensing and direct access grant programs to provide simpler application processes and faster turnaround times.
• Repealed and replaced antiquated liquor regulations, resulting in a 41% reduction of regulatory requirements, and reducing liquor licensing categories from 19 to 2.
• Streamlined and automated the liquor licensing process by implementing a new computer system, centralizing processing, accepting debit card/credit card payments and implementing a new fee model for licensees.
• Funded 17 new police-based victim services programs and implemented a provincewide victim information telephone line that operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, with service available in all major languages spoken in B.C.
• Transferred the Criminal Injury Compensation Program from the Workers' Compensation Board to the ministry.
• Modernized the Residential Tenancy Act to clarify responsibilities of landlords and tenants, streamline processes and simplify regulation, and improve the plain language, making it clearer for everyone to understand.
• Transferred the Office of the Superintendent of Motor Vehicles and the Commercial Vehicle Safety and Enforcement Division to the ministry to streamline services and improve public safety.
• Reduced the ministry's regulatory burden by 14.5 per cent, continuing the ministry's commitment to a one-third reduction by 2004/05.