Three people serving sentences in the community or awaiting trial have been caught violating their curfews by North Cowichan/Duncan RCMP.
Recent curfew checks by officers from the detachment have resulted in three reports being forwarded to BC Prosecution Services and a reminder to the community of the detachment’s commitment to crime prevention, the detachment said in a press release.
Over the week of May 25 to 31 officers and members of the Street Crimes Unit put an extra emphasis on conducting curfew checks. The goal with curfew checks is to ensure that people awaiting trial or those who are serving sentences in the community understand and follow their conditions and to act as a deterrent to future offences. During the checks, most people were found to be compliant with their conditions, though three reports were forwarded to BC Prosecution Service for failure to comply with court orders. Crown counsel will review the files and establish if it is appropriate to bring those found to be breaching their conditions back to court.
“Maintaining regular contact with people on curfews is an important part of our efforts to reduce crime rates and ensure community safety,” says Cpl. Trevor March of the North Cowichan Duncan RCMP Street Crime Unit. “It is even more relevant given the added challenges currently faced by the court system with the COVID-19 public health emergency. North Cowichan/Duncan officers will continue to keep these checks as a priority.”
People are placed on curfews for a variety of public safety reasons. These conditions allow for monitoring of prolific offenders in the community and can act as a deterrent to property crimes or other related offences. Police at the North Cowichan/Duncan RCMP detachment maintain contact with offenders who are placed on curfew and see consistent change as people work their way through the court process. Probation and parole officers also play a key part in ensuring compliance of court imposed conditions.
