Year-at-a-Glance Highlights

Enhancing Effectiveness and Efficiency in Policing

• Expanded the Police Records Information Management Environment (PRIME) to progress toward connecting all police departments and RCMP detachments in the province, making British Columbia the first jurisdiction in Canada to adopt a provincewide, online police records management system.
• Expanded the bait car program, in conjunction with ICBC, from Vancouver to 16 other lower mainland communities to catch car thieves and deter auto thefts.
• Completed amalgamation of Chilliwack, Hope, Agassiz and Boston Bar RCMP detachments and Grand Forks and Midway detachments, resulting in less duplication of services, improved training and career opportunities for police officers, and reduced operating costs.
• Completed integrated police service and investigative units that focus on, for example, gaming, organized crime, homicide or securities.

Responding to Emergencies and Disasters

• Demonstrated the effectiveness of the provincial emergency response structure through its greatest test to date as the province experienced an extraordinary number of widespread emergency events. The Provincial Emergency Program Emergency Coordination Centre handled over 260,000 calls involving 6,200 emergency incidents, 940 Search and Rescue operations, three major flooding events, and 22 significant urban interface fires. More than 55 evacuation orders were issued to remove people from harm's way.
• Contributed to enhanced public safety through a three-year commitment of $125,000 annually to the Canadian Avalanche Foundation to allow for expansion of snow-safety information coverage to backcountry users, and to contribute to building avalanche safety programs.

Supporting Communities in Increasing Public Safety

• Coordinated the first Provincial Meeting of Local Governments on Crime Prevention and Community Safety, bringing together nearly 100 senior government officials to support the development of community-based crime prevention strategies through a new municipal network.
• Provided $350,000 in funding to support schools and communities with strategies that enhance public safety and local crime prevention efforts.
• Provided $135,000 in funding to support communities in developing local initiatives to address the sexual exploitation of youth and prostitution-related issues, and supported the development and delivery of two annual provincial sexual exploitation forums and Stop the Sexual Exploitation of Children and Youth Awareness Week.
• Delivered a provincewide workshop series on restorative justice and the Youth Criminal Justice Act.
• Developed and distributed the Safe Communities Kit, designed to assist communities and individuals in preventing crime and enhancing public safety.
• Participated in the development and distribution of Gangs: Take a Stand, a 25-minute video that aims to inform parents and other community members what youth gangs do, who is at risk, and what to do if a child is suspected to be involved in gang activity.
• Provided funding and support to the B.C. Safe Schools and Communities Centre, which has relocated to the University College of the Fraser Valley to enhance accessibility of services and partner with the post-secondary academic community.
• Coordinated a meeting of government, police and private agencies to provide recommendations to the Chief Coroner for prevention of child and youth motor vehicle fatalities.
• Participated in a provincewide high school program (PARTY) aimed at preventing alcohol- and risk-related trauma in youth by presenting front-line experiences of coroners, police and emergency health service providers related to youth injuries and fatalities.
• Developed the B.C. Coroners Service website to provide agencies and the public with information to assist in fatality prevention, including safety bulletins relative to recent fatality trends.¹
• Improved service delivery to the private security industry by launching a new website tailored to that client group.²
• Enhanced public safety by implementing an electronic transfer of criminal protection order information from court registries around the province to the Protection Order Registry at Security Programs.

Supporting Victims of Crime

• Established eight new community-based programs for victims of crime to enhance support and resources for people who have been impacted by family or sexual violence, increasing the provincial total to 60 community-based and 90 police-based programs.
• Implemented VictimLINK, a multilingual, 24-hour help and information line for victims of crime.
• Supported the development of resource manuals and the delivery of 16 regional workshops aimed at providing victim services workers with the knowledge and skills to assist and support victims of crime. This year, the workshops focused on two diverse communities and cultures: Aboriginal peoples and members of the Lesbian, Gay, Transgendered and Bisexual community.
• Updated and distributed the brochure Speaking of Abuse, Violence Against Aboriginal Women in Relationships.
• Established the Victim Safety Unit to promote victim safety by providing victims with access to offender information through manual notification to protected parties of changes in the custodial status of offenders, and through Victim Information and Notification Everyday (VINE), an automated telephone message system.

Maintaining Safer Streets

• Improved and automated routine transactions in road safety programs, thereby increasing the ability of the Office of the Superintendent of Motor Vehicles to focus on driver safety.
• Enhanced the Graduated Licensing Program to further improve new driver safety by lengthening the program's learner and novice stages, introducing a novice stage passenger restriction, and establishing a novice stage safe driving incentive by requiring novice drivers who have been prohibited from driving to start over at the beginning of the novice stage.
• Announced enhancements to policies on drunk driving, targeting drivers who receive roadside suspensions with tougher interventions, including new prohibitions when drivers receive two roadside suspensions in two years.
• Increased requirements for commercial vehicle operators to complete driver medical examinations more frequently.

Promoting Responsible Gaming and Liquor Industry Practices

• Enhanced the Problem Gambling Program, which includes free, confidential problem gambling clinical and prevention services and a 24-hour toll-free telephone counselling and referral line.
• Implemented the Responsible Gambling Strategy, which has the following components: the Partnership for Responsible Gambling with the B.C. Lottery Corporation and the gambling industry; advertising and marketing standards for the gambling industry; the Responsible Gambling website ³; a provincewide public awareness campaign on the availability of services for people with gambling problems; and counselling and referral services information made clearly visible at gaming facilities.
• Implemented the Illegal Gambling Strategy, including establishing the Integrated Illegal Gambling Enforcement Team, joining dedicated RCMP officers with branch investigators to pursue more complex illegal gambling investigations.
• Completed regulatory changes to ensure appropriate trade practices between liquor suppliers and licensed establishments.
• Conducted a review of the Responsible Beverage Service educational program for servers and licensees.
• Trained all liquor inspectors in recognizing the symptoms of intoxication and in interpreting and applying the overcrowding provisions in the Liquor Control and Licensing Act.

Regulating Consumer Services Industries

• Introduced legislation to strengthen and modernize consumer protection and create a better environment for business. The Business Practices and Consumer Protection Act consolidated six consumer statutes, providing clearer and consistent language, reducing overlap, and addressing new areas of consumer law, such as Internet sales. The Business Practices and Consumer Protection Authority Act established an independent authority operating at arm's length from government that is responsible for a range of licensing, inspections, investigations and enforcement, and will move regulation of businesses to a full cost-recovery model. The Cremation, Interment and Funeral Services Act deals with specific aspects of the cemetery and funeral services industry not covered under the two previous acts, providing greater clarity, more accurate definitions and a straightforward process for the establishment, operation and closure of cemeteries and crematoria.
• Brought the new Residential Tenancy Act and Manufactured Home Park Tenancy Act into effect, with enhanced protection for both landlords and renters. Highlights include allowable rental increases, a deposit of one-half month's rent to protect against damage done by pets, improved security deposit provisions, and clear, easy-to-understand regulations.
• Repealed the Commercial Appeals Commission Act and established a new financial services tribunal to hear appeals of decisions made under legislation affecting the financial and real estate sectors. This more focused appeal process reflects the technical nature of the issues in these industries, resulting in increased efficiency and effectiveness.

Enhancing Human Resources and Information Technology

• Created a dedicated strategic human resources (HR) planning team that works to align HR activities within the ministry to specific business objectives. The team provides a number of value-added services to ministry executive, such as leadership development, change management, business planning and occupational safety and health support, as well as actively participating in numerous government-wide projects, such as the Employee Performance and Development Plan initiative and development of the new Corporate HR Plan.
• Implemented seven new software applications within the ministry's various business lines, including the first integrated information system, combining Film Classification, Private Investigators and Security Agencies, and Gaming, on one licensing system called FIGARO. A new Electronic Victim Information System, a Responsible Gambling Information System, and enhanced functionality for the Liquor Control and Licensing Branch's POSSE system were also implemented. The ministry is also putting significant effort into a re-write of CORNET, the Corrections Branch's main operational system, which is targeted to be implemented in January 2005.