Police Warnings Keep Puncturing Eby’s Safe-Communities Pitch

David Eby’s public-safety pitch sounds tidy on a campaign page: keep violent offenders behind bars, hire more police, restore repeat-offender programs, and push Ottawa to toughen bail rules. The problem is that police warnings keep giving voters a much less tidy picture.

On October 2, Vancouver Police warned that Skylar Wayne Pelletier, a convicted sex offender, would be residing in Vancouver and, in VPD’s words, posed a significant risk to women in the community. Police listed historical convictions including sexual assault, committing sexual assault, break and enter, and assault. They said Vancouver Community Corrections would monitor him under conditions including no victim contact, no drugs or alcohol, a 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew, and no knives. Residents were told to call 911 if they saw a breach.

That notice did not arrive in isolation. Surrey Police had issued a September 14 public-interest disclosure for Pelletier when he was to reside in Surrey, describing him as a designated high-risk offender with a history of violent and sexual offences, including offences toward females. Surrey Police said he would be under numerous conditions and electronic monitoring.

Two weeks later, on September 28, Surrey Police issued another warning, this time about Leonard Michael Ramstead. The force said Ramstead had previous convictions for sexual offences involving children, was believed to continue posing a risk for violent sexual offences against children, and had been released on a 10-year Long-Term Supervision Order with numerous conditions. Again, the public was told to call 911 for breaches.

No responsible article should pretend every part of that chain is provincial. Parole, statutory release, federal corrections and long-term supervision can involve federal law and federal institutions. Surrey Mayor Brenda Locke’s September statement made that federal demand explicitly while also saying communities should not bear an unfair burden for high-risk placements.

But that caveat does not rescue Eby’s campaign messaging from scrutiny. The BC NDP’s own safe-communities page says Eby’s team hired 250 new police officers and restored a program to stop repeat offenders. A July B.C. government release said the provincewide Chronic Property Offending Intervention Initiative would monitor as many as 865 people involved in repeat violent, property and public-disorder offences, including 365 in the Lower Mainland, through a network of hubs and supervision partners.

Those are precisely the records voters should weigh against the warnings. If the government says the system is stronger, then the public deserves clear evidence of what “stronger” means when high-risk notices move from Surrey to Vancouver, when conditions rely on monitoring, and when residents are asked to become the last alert mechanism by calling 911.

Public safety is not measured by a signup slogan. It is measured by whether families believe risk is being managed before another warning lands on the community bulletin board. Right now, the paper trail says Eby still owes B.C. that ledger.