Drug & Mental Health
Are NOT Policing issues
The police are taking a whole lot of heat these days over how they are dealing with people with mental illness, drug addiction, homelessness etc. These same people while not all criminals are responsible for much of the crime we have seen in recent times.
Why the police are being singled out as the whipping boy for what is clearly a Ministry of Health and Department of Justice failing is beyond just or fair.
Hon. Adrian Dix is responsible and should be held accountable
While he can be seen nearly daily at the podium beside Dr. Henry with the latest covid blow by blow there are other issues he should be dealing with.
Dix is doing nothing but applying one band aid on top of another band aid in the form of supplying clean needles, injection sites, overdose kits and now an app to help drug users signal an overdose, even if they are unable to call themselves.
If you were walking down the street and encountered some tormented soul playing Russian roulette with a loaded revolver you wouldn't just stand by and wait to administer aid after they shoot themselves. That person would be taken into custody for their own safety and protection, and welcomed into a facility where they could get the help they need to be delivered from the demon of drug addiction.
To Dix's shame the Ministry of Health has no such facility available to welcome and treat these people who sooner or later will be successful in killing themselves. They will be killing themselves while Dix and his ministry keep opening another box of bandaids.
Instead of actually being able to deal with the health issues of mental health and drug addiction, the Ministry of Health will give an injection to counter the overdose, and then kick people back out to do it again. They are utterly failing these people and creating an untenable condition for the police to have to deal with.
Instead of criticizing the police for their handling of mental health and drug addiction issues Dix and his ministry need to provide the trained personnel to cope with these tormented souls AND a facility to provide them with the help they need.
Department of Justice and the Courts failing everyone
Again, police will take the heat for rising crime rates etc.while we ignore the revolving door on the court houses all over the province. Instead of actually removing criminals from society after the police have done their job of apprehension, the courts do everything they can to just kick people back out onto the streets to continue their life of crime.
Clearly justice delayed is justice denied and when people have been apprehended in the course of a criminal act, charges should be laid and the case dealt with quickly. No one should be denied their due process but the system as it now works would be laughable if the results not so serious.
The recent case in Nanaimo is a prime example as reported in an earlier post on this site. A fellow clearly with drug issues with outstanding warrants for theft and possession of stolen property is charged with obstruction and possession of a controlled substance.
The police do their job. The guy appears before the court and is kicked loose with a promise to return in three months! He has outstanding warrants, is clearly not supporting himself by lawful means, (here's a hint, the warrant for theft and possession of stolen property) and the same day is kicked back out onto the streets to continue doing whatever he is doing to support his drug habit.
So we shouldn't be blaming local law enforcement for the rising crime rate but the Department of Justice needs to be held accountable for their failed role in keeping the general public safe by apprehending, incarcerating and rehabilitating people who clearly are not living up to all that God intended for them.
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