Kelowna RCMP, Crown prosecutors telling different stories on how quickly suspects get charged

Photo: Nicholas Johansen/file

If you're the victim of a property crime in Kelowna, it's possible the suspect may have been waiting to have charges filed for a previous crime.

RCMP Supt. Kara Triance, during a quarterly report to council, indicated nearly 80 per cent of all files passed on to Crown in 2021, including property crimes, are still awaiting charge approval.

That's 844 of 1,084 property crime files and 2,675 of 3,358 total files sent for approval.

"If you have that many files waiting, particularly the thousand that are property crime related, you are going to have offenders at large in the community during the period of time when they are waiting for court," Triance told council,.

"And, we can assume from patterns of behaviour we've seen from persistent prolific offenders, they are committing more crimes while at large in the community.

"When you arrest someone on Friday with stolen firearms, stolen property, and perhaps some illicit substances, and by Monday they are back, on the streets and able to commit crime, it becomes next to impossible to stay on top of that significant calls for service."

She says the delay has created a bottleneck within the justice system.

Mayor Colin Basran called the numbers "beyond shocking," saying it's the first time council had heard those numbers.

"It's appalling - this is unreal. I'd be defeated to come to work every day," said Basran.

Crown prosecutors, however, have an entirely different set of numbers that tell a different story.

Dan McLaughlin, communications counsel with the BC Prosecution Service, when asked to comment on the delay in charge approval, provided figures that directly contradict those presented to city council.

McLaughlin provided numbers for "all files" received by the BCPS from the Kelowna RCMP in 2021.

And, while he was unable to verify if they were specifically for the city, or included the Central Okanagan, says their records show 1,962 reports to Crown with 2,048 accused were submitted in 2021.

He says decisions were recorded on 1,927 of those, of which 1,584 were approved for court, 314 resulted in no charges and 29 referred for alternate measures.

Of the 121 awaiting a decision, 69 were returned to police and 52 recorded as "in progress."

That 121 files the Crown says they are still processing from last year is dramatically different from the 2,675 Triance claimed on Monday.

McLaughlin did not explain why the Crown's stats are so different than the police.

Castanet News will follow up this story this week to determine the reason for the wide variation.