Province, mayors co-ordinate investigation into prolific offenders

May 5, 2022

 

Victoria — The Province, in co-operation with British Columbia’s Urban Mayors’ Caucus (BCUMC), has hired two experts to investigate and report on prolific offenders and random violent attacks, and the necessary actions.

Backgrounders

Investigation Panel biographies

Doug LePard

Doug LePard is a retired police chief and an independent criminal justice sector consultant. After 35 years’ service, he retired as the deputy chief commanding the Investigation Division in the Vancouver Police Department (VPD), then served several years as the Chief of the Metro Vancouver Transit Police. While in the VPD, he had multiple investigative assignments at several ranks where he conducted countless serious investigations, including in the Strike Force, the Sexual Offence Squad, the Domestic Violence and Criminal Harassment Unit and the Home Invasion Task Force.

Other assignments included managing beat policing on the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver and overseeing the VPD’s planning and research section. He has also served as an investigator and “discipline authority” for Police Act matters. He has authored/co-authored articles, book chapters and major reports on a variety of policing issues, about which he has presented locally, nationally and internationally.

He is a member of the Mental Health Review Board, BC Review Board, BC Emergency Health Services Board, The Treehouse (Child and Youth Advocacy Centre) Board, and former sessional criminology faculty at the University of the Fraser Valley. He holds a bachelor of arts in criminology and a master of arts in criminal justice.

Amanda Butler

Amanda Butler is a health researcher and criminologist whose specialties include mental health, substance-use disorders, criminal justice systems, and prison health. She completed her PhD in the faculty of health sciences at Simon Fraser University (SFU), and holds an MA in criminology from SFU and a BA in criminal justice and public policy from the University of Guelph.

For her PhD research, she used administrative data to study health needs and criminal justice outcomes among people with mental illness and substance-use disorders in B.C.’s provincial correctional facilities. She has published several academic articles, book chapters, and technical reports. She received several notable awards during her PhD, including a CIHR doctoral fellowship, an Endeavor Research fellowship, and the Dean’s Convocation Medal. She works as an independent research and evaluation consultant.

Investigation into prolific offenders terms of reference

The investigation will focus on the origin of evolving crime trends regarding two groups of offences and offenders (chronic property crime and violent offences) and identify solutions under existing provincial authority.

The investigation will be required to complete the following:

1.           Reach out to key stakeholders with practical or academic knowledge and expertise related to the issue of prolific offenders and the recent rise in violent incidents for information on the origin of these trends, clear definitions of the problem and relevant terms, and suggestions on policy and legislative responses that are in provincial government jurisdiction, including the newly formed Crown Counsel Police Liaison Committee working group and the BC First Nations Justice Council; and

2.           As part of this work explore specific proposals already received by government for feasibility of implementation and effectiveness in mitigating these two specific problems, including:

a.           offering courts the option of ordering real time electronic monitoring of those identified as chronic offenders and under release conditions to preserve public safety and confidence while respecting federal rules about release and least restrictive conditions;

b.           identifying supports or programs that can effectively be delivered or referred to by first responders (police, fire, ambulance) or by courts for offenders to interrupt the cycle of offending or the escalation of offending;

c.           identifying whether compulsory programs between the province’s voluntary complex care housing and the province’s involuntary mental health hospital beds could respond to the unique needs of this group of offenders; and,

d.           any other policies identified as promising through the work in subsection 1 or otherwise.

The experts will compile their findings in a written report prepared and returned to the ministers within 120 days.