Highlights of the Year

Enhancing Effectiveness and Efficiency in Policing

• Supported the integration of police efforts to combat organized crime. The former Organized Crime Agency of B.C. was integrated into the RCMP-led Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit (CFSEU – BC) and the Integrated Gang Task Force (IGTF) was established.
• Created the Integrated Sexual Predator Observation Team (ISPOT) to monitor sexual predators with the objective of reducing the risk of sexual assaults and other crime. ISPOT is an intelligence-based surveillance project that targets high-risk sexual predators.
• Established the Amber Alert Program, a provincewide partnership among law enforcement agencies, media and the public to locate abducted children in certain situations.
• Completed further expansion of the Police Records Information Management Environment (PRIME), an online data-sharing system that provides up-to-the-minute information about criminals and crimes, improving law enforcement and officer safety across the province.
• Introduced civil forfeiture legislation to target the proceeds of unlawful activity. Once the Civil Forfeiture Act is brought into force, the government can apply to court to seize the proceeds gained from or assets used in unlawful activity, and use those resources for crime prevention, law enforcement and victim compensation.
• Implemented the National Sex Offender Registry to help police respond to sexual assaults and related offences. Location and descriptive information about sex offenders is registered on a national database to assist police in identifying sex offenders living/working near the location of a sex crime complaint.
• Moved forward on the integration of RCMP detachments to reduce duplication of administrative services and enhance response to multi-jurisdictional and/or complex criminal activities.
• Expanded the bait car program, run by the Integrated Municipal Provincial Auto Crime Team (IMPACT). Police statistics show a 15 per cent decrease in auto theft in the Lower Mainland since the program was implemented.

Supporting Communities in Increasing Public Safety

• Continued to provide funding and support to community-based crime prevention and restorative justice programs, and to work with stakeholders to promote awareness of and collaborative approaches to crime prevention and community safety.
• Co-hosted with the Union of British Columbia Municipalities and provincial crime prevention partners, the second provincial gathering of local governments to address community safety and crime prevention. The theme was Harnessing Youth Power and Perspectives in Your Local Government, with a focus on substance abuse issues facing communities.
• Co-hosted with the federal government a Roundtable on Trafficking in Persons to gain a better understanding of the scope and nature of trafficking in persons in B.C., as well as to share domestic and international knowledge and approaches to awareness, prevention and intervention.
• In recognition of Stop the Sexual Exploitation of Youth Awareness Week — co-hosted the 7th annual provincial forum that focused on building community capacities to address child and youth sexual exploitation. Over 200 people attended, including youth and members of the Aboriginal community.
• To enhance victim safety in spousal abuse cases, new guidelines to improve police release procedures came into effect February 2005. The new guidelines will help ensure that victim safety is maximized, consistent and effective risk assessment is undertaken, appropriate release conditions are imposed, and the integrity of the court process is assured.

Maintaining Safer Streets

• Proceeded with the creation of Integrated Road Safety units to deliver targeted road safety enforcement and address road safety issues.
• Established tougher penalties for people who continue to drive under drinking and driving prohibitions, tougher sanctions for people who get 24-hour prohibitions for drinking and driving, an extended period of "zero alcohol tolerance" for novice drivers, and ignition interlock and rehabilitation programs for drinking drivers.

Supporting Victims of Crime

• Continued to fund and support over 150 police-based and community-based victim services programs throughout the province, and established two new Aboriginal programs to provide culturally specific services to Aboriginal women and youth who are victims of crime or family and sexual violence.
• Partnered with the Government of Yukon to expand VictimLINK, the 24/7 information line for victims of crime and family and sexual violence, to the territory, and provided support to the government to deliver victim services to the communities of Atlin and Lower Post, located on the Yukon/British Columbia border.
• Strengthened the victim service training program to prepare for the introduction of the Victim Service Worker Certificate through the Justice Institute of B.C. One hundred and seventy-five victim service workers attended week-long basic training modules at the Justice Institute and 300 victim service workers attended day-long topical sessions held throughout the province.
• Completed 3,223 decisions through the Crime Victim Assistance Program, which provided almost $11.8 million in benefits to eligible claimants.

Responding to Emergencies and Disasters

• Increased maximum Disaster Financial Assistance from $100,000 to $300,000 for eligible applicants to help British Columbians with the costs of recovering from disasters.
• Provided an additional $1.5 million to the Union of British Columbia Municipalities (UBCM) to support the development of local government emergency plans and programs.
• Brought into force the requirement for regional districts to put emergency plans in place and to establish emergency management organizations for all electoral areas, either collectively or separately.
• Launched AdventureSmart to increase public understanding and reduce risks of participating in outdoor recreational activities (http://www.adventuresmart.ca).
• Provided $1.0 million to coastal communities at risk from tsunamis to identify risks, develop enhanced response plans, upgrade communications and warning systems, and support public education programs.

Promoting Responsible Liquor and Gaming Practices

• Continued to work toward improved industry cooperation to reduce problems associated with liquor misuse by conducting risk-based inspections of licensees. Over 15,000 inspections were conducted in 2004/05, with 93 per cent of inspected licensees found to be in compliance.
• Progressed with implementation of the Illegal Gambling Enforcement Strategy, designed to reduce the incidence of illegal gambling and address unlawful activity taking place in legal gambling facilities.
• Continued with the implementation of the Responsible Gambling Strategy, designed to reduce the incidence of problem gambling, reduce the harmful effects of excessive gambling and encourage responsible gambling practices and healthy choices ( http://www.bcresponsiblegambling.ca ).

Regulating Consumer Services Industries

• Developed new licensing requirements for telemarketers, to go into effect on October 1, 2005, to better protect consumers and enhance professional standards. Licensing will be overseen by the B.C. Business Practices and Consumer Protection Authority, which enforces consumer protection laws and investigates deceptive telemarketers.
• Participated in a US-Canada task force investigating fraudulent B.C.-based telemarketers, and helped consumers recover almost $2.0 million lost to fraud.

Recognizing British Columbia Veterans' Service to Canada

• Veterans groups and the B.C. government worked together to recognize the 80,000 veterans living in British Columbia by offering them the opportunity to display specialty veteran licence plates on their vehicles.