Pubdate: Tue, 12 May 2009
Source: Williams Lake Tribune, The (CN BC)
Copyright: 2009 Williams Lake Tribune
Contact:  http://www.wltribune.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1226
Author: Erin Hitchcock

NEW RCMP OPERATIONS NCO: CRIMINALS ARE NOT SAFE

The Williams Lake RCMP has a new sergeant at the detachment who hopes 
to make the community feel safe and the prolific offenders feel 
watched with a close eye.

Sgt. Warren Brown, who started at the detachment in early April, says 
he wants the community to feel that they can also trust the RCMP. He 
says drug traffickers, property offenders, and other criminals who 
want to exploit that trust and go against making the community feel 
safe are going to be identified.

"And they're going to get the majority of our attention," he says. 
"At the end of the day, if those people are of the opinion they are 
being targeted and singled out . they are more than welcome to move 
to a new community."

He notes that those people are few and represent a small percentage 
of the population.

"I don't want them to feel at any time that they are safe," he says. 
"I make no bones about it. We will be extremely aggressive towards 
the prolific offender, the drug dealer, and the person who 
jeopardizes the safety and well-being of the community."

Brown took over the position as sergeant, which was formerly held by 
Sgt. Brian Hunter who moved away.

Brown transferred to the detachment from New Hazelton, B.C., where he 
had been an operations NCO for two years and a sergeant for the last 
year and a half.

Before that, he worked general duty and in the general investigation 
section in Merritt, starting in 2002 when he joined the RCMP, and 
before that, he was a member of the Winnipeg City Police and the 
Delta Municipal Police for 14 years.

"I wanted to come here because of both professional and personal 
reasons," Brown says, adding that Williams Lake offers more 
amenities, such as sports and recreation, for his family.

Born in B.C., Brown often visited the Cariboo with his family and 
still enjoys hunting, fishing, and camping.

"It was a desirable area always for me to relocate, and one of the 
reasons I ended up leaving the municipal police and joining the RCMP 
was because the RCMP allowed me the opportunity to work and live in 
areas where I wanted to."

He adds that Staff Sgt. Grant Martin strongly supported Brown's 
interest to relocate to Williams Lake.

"His strong leadership that he has at the detachment is one of the 
major reasons why I came here."

Professionally, he says Williams Lake presents challenges that offer 
opportunities for his growth and development. He says the detachment 
is one of the busiest detachments in the province, due to its 
manpower and the area and population it serves.

With Williams Lake being a hub city, due to it being located along 
Highway 97 and Highway 20, the city has some dynamics that big city 
policing has, he says. It has a downtown core and businesses and 
transient type crime.

It also serves a large portion of the population that doesn't live in 
the city, including First Nations communities and other communities 
inside the Cariboo Regional District.

"Those are dynamics that make this job all the more challenging, but 
in the same breath all the more rewarding when you can interact with 
these competing interests," he says, adding that he also enjoys the 
opportunity of being a mentor, as there are many junior members at 
the detachment.

Brown, a third generation Mountie whose grandfather and father were 
police officers, says he had wanted to become an officer for as long 
as he could remember.

He says the members at the Williams Lake detachment are passionate 
and caring about their responsibilities. As busy as they are with 
their file load, he says, they do a lot more than just taking calls. 
They show team spirit and are proactively involved.

He says members tackle marijuana operations on a weekly basis, for 
example, and are constantly staying up-to-date on the prolific 
offenders program that has identified a number of repeat offenders in 
the community.

"They're always talking about issues that the community is wanting us 
to address," Brown says. "The members are very actively involved in 
the direction the community would like to see us go."

This year has so far shown a decrease in crime, compared to last 
year's numbers. Brown says he would like to say the trend will 
continue, but notes it's too early to tell if it will.

"There's been some very good work here," he says, noting safer 
communities co-ordinator Dave Dickson and his community policing 
volunteers, as well as to the prolific offenders program.

"We've identified some very evil people, and they've been put in 
jail," he says, adding that jail isn't necessarily the answer in 
every case, but it does give the communities a break from the 
prolific offenders, and gives the offenders an opportunity to get 
their lives back on track.

He says if the community identifies one or two goals or initiatives, 
it's important the RCMP provides an adequate response and delivers 
the commitment it makes.

Brown says he has already experienced how community-driven the city 
seems to be.

"I can honestly say I've never worked in a community where there 
seems to be more volunteers, organizations, and clubs that promote 
the positive things in a city, as well as identify some of the risks 
and challenges with a real strong effort to improve those areas of concern."

He says the most important thing is maintaining good relationships 
with the communities in ensuring the police deserve the public's 
respect, trust, and confidence. He says it's also important to 
continue identifying the specific needs and concerns the communities 
have and then aggressively tackle those problems.
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MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart