Big bucks from bad driving

Prince Rupert’s Integrated Road Safety Unit has certainly made a difference in more than better driving habits on local streets. The city will receive close to $275,000 dollars in traffic fine revenue collected in the last year.

Thanks to a change in the sharing grant system back in 2004, the provinces municipalities now lay claim to all the monies collected due to traffic fine offenses on the provinces streets and highways. Since the change in policy took place which sees all fine money returned to the community $673,000 has been directed towards Prince Rupert to fund a number of local policing initiatives. Including interestingly enough the creation and sustainability of the IRSU, which works on traffic offence observation and road safety issues.

Making the unit both the main upholder of the traffic laws of the province and its chief fundraiser for local community policing issues. A situation that makes for a dual role, which might make a few folks in the community concerned over potential conflict of interests.

Though in the end, if you’re a bad driver you’re eventually going to get caught, you’re going to have to pay and the money should stay in the community from which the offences have been committed in. If we don’t want to be part of the “voluntary” tax program, all we need to do is slow down and remember some of the simpler rules of the road.

Perhaps, if they’re looking for a new direction for some of that winfall, they could swing some of the money over to the roads department. It could help them to take a less parsimonious approach to plowing and sanding on city streets on these wintry occasions that we enjoy. You never know it might help to cut down on accidents and ICBC claims.

Tuesday’s Daily News had a look at the project and the local impact that the money has had.

CRIME FIGHTING GETS BOOST THANKS TO TRAFFIC FINE CASH
Money from fines returned by province more than $670,000
By James Vassallo
The Daily News
Tuesday, January 9, 2007
Page five

Prince Rupert will receive nearly $275,000 from local traffic fines collected last year. Since 2004 - when the province changed from a sharing grant system to returning 100 percent of net traffic fine revenues to municipalities – the city has received more than $673,000.

“Our government kept its commitment to return 100 percent of traffic fine revenues to municipalities in 2004. Communities have been innovative in finding ways to provide more officers, smarter policing and increased community crime-prevention programs,” said Community Services Minister Ida Chong.

“Taxpayers can see for themselves… how municipalities are investing fine revenues, and municipalities have the opportunity to share some of the ways they are working to enhance public safety.”

The funds have allowed the city to continue the Auxiliary Constable program, paid for traffic control person training for local youth, allowed the creation of the Integrated Road Safety unit (IRSU), helped to fund a return of the Citizen on Patrol (COP) program, kept the Community Policing and Victim and Victims’ Services offices open and covered additional salary costs of local RCMP.

Thanks to the funding, more than 450 officers have been hired in municipalities across the province, reserve and auxiliary constable programs have been expanded, and civilian complaint takers hired to allow police officers to return to patrol duties.

As well, several Lower Mainland municipalities invested in the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team – which played a critical role in the arrest of a group of men wanted for a number of crimes including the murder of Rupertite Alex McLean – and other jurisdictions have established integrated municipal response strategies to deal with drug houses.

”When we bumped the fines returned to 100 per cent from 25 per cent, we gave municipalities more resources to fight crime and enhance public safety in B. C.” said Solicitor General John Les. “Municipalities are making the decisions on how to do that in their own communities and to benefit their own citizens – whether its trafficking grow-ops or strengthening victim services programs.”

The provincial traffic fine revenue comes from ticket fines and court imposed fines on violation tickets and is returned to B. C. municipalities that pay their own direct policing costs.

The amount of money a municipality receives is based on its contribution to total municipal policing costs.

Since its expansion in 2004, when the province began returning 100 per cent of traffic fine revenues to municipalities, an additional $110 million has gone to municipalities for public safety, for a total of $140 million.