A new premier brings renewed hope we won’t have to watch the continual horrifying reruns of Lawless & Disorder shows being viewed far too frequently around the province.
Crime is the single biggest issue facing new premier David Eby and the provincial government needs to give it the highest priority in conjunction with the feds.
A police officer killed. A convicted killer from Edmonton wreaking havoc on a downtown Vancouver bank building by smashing windows seemingly without recourse because he’d already done it once before. Gang shootings all over the place subsequently followed by burning vehicles seemingly to cover up evidence. Random assaults everywhere. The list goes on.
We’ve seen enough. It’s time for some stern action.
The safety of the public in small towns and large cities has been severely compromised at the expense of unprovoked criminals, drunk teens and drug-induced weapon-yielding menaces to society.
No one knows when they’re going to be in the wrong place at the wrong time encountering the out-of-control actions of countless repeat offenders with no concern for others.
Police are frustrated. They arrest these people, they’re back on the street usually the same day and police arrest them again – and again and again, in many cases.
Good old hard justice has to be brought back, including significant jail time. Most of those arrested with mental health problems have put themselves in that situation by taking too many drugs and frying their delicate brains.
One thing Eby previously said is a system of involuntary drug treatment needs to be implemented. We hope he follows through on that because it’s at least a starting point.
We can’t continue to go on like this, looking over our shoulders and wondering what someone behind us is going to do – even in broad daylight. The time to end it is now, no more discussions, no more meetings, no more reports.
One crime and even two appearances in the court system can be forgiven under the right circumstances. But not after that. We need to make these people productive members of society again, but with the right discipline first.