Jan 22, 2010

Media contact: Kim Lawrence
Cell: 604-302-6257
Office: 604-864-4611
kim.lawrence@ufv.ca

RCMP and UFV data-sharing partnership to help
reduce crime

	Deputy Commissioner Gary Bass, Commanding Officer of ‘E’ Division RCMP (left) with Dr. Mark Evered, president and vice-chancellor of UFV.

Communities across British Columbia may see future changes in how they receive police service as the RCMP and the University of the Fraser Valley enter into a new and exciting partnership.

Beginning today, the University of the Fraser Valley will officially gain access to RCMP data as part of a University-Led Research Studies (ULRS) partnership that will look at how police service is delivered across the province.

Using the RCMP data, research centres at UFV will build new analysis tools for the study of crime in urban environments, which will in turn enable the development of statistics, trend analysis, and ad hoc reporting for the RCMP. The information collection, modeling, reporting, and analysis will be done by UFV researchers under the direction and guidance of professors or project managers for the purpose of helping the RCMP with crime prevention initiatives in local communities.

“For the RCMP in British Columbia, this is the latest step in the evolution of how we work with our clients and communities. By partnering with academic institutions such as the University of the Fraser Valley, we are able to share information and develop a more complete understanding of policing trends and issues,” says Deputy Commissioner Gary Bass, Commanding Officer of ‘E’ Division RCMP.

 The partnership refines how policing is conducted in British Columbia, and follows the highly successful implementation of crime-reduction strategies in the last few years, which have resulted in dramatic drops in crime rates in the communities that have implemented them.  Examples of these strategies include:

• Prolific Offender Management programs being piloted in six different BC communities (Surrey, Kamloops, Nanaimo, Williams Lake, Prince George, and the Capital Regional District) in collaboration with a range of provincial and municipal partner agencies;
• a BC justice system modelling project (being led by the provincial Criminal Justice Reform Secretariat), designed to show how the  system as a whole can be made more responsive and effective in today's criminal justice environment;
• direct studies of policing efficiencies in response to calls for service;
• research on the prevalence of drug production in BC communities and effective counter strategies at the local level.

 

“This project exemplifies our commitment to integrate teaching and research at UFV, and to serve our region through partnerships,” says Dr. Mark Evered, president and vice-chancellor. “Partnerships like this one with the RCMP help our students learn and understand how new knowledge is sought, evaluated, assimilated, and applied to the real world around them. They participate actively with their professors and see the direct results of their work. This agreement will give us a very powerful teaching and learning tool.”

“Policing continues to be a dynamic and evolving profession. By tapping into the knowledge and expertise available we will be able to get new and innovative ways to reduce and prevent crime across the province,” say Deputy Commissioner Bass.

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