Monthly Council Report for October 2008

Dear Mayor and Council:

Please find below a brief overview of some of the main activity for Comox Valley Detachment during the month of October 2008. Included in
the October monthly report is an update on the 2008 Tour de Rock, information on Halloween activities as well as a lengthy overview of
relocating some of the detachment personnel to an off-site location.

The 2008 version of the Vancouver Island “Tour de Rock” concluded in early October. This year the annual bike ride on Vancouver Island raised an estimated $1.8 million for cancer research.

The major event for October was once again Halloween night activities. Comox Valley Detachment had 28 members on duty for the evening. The nights policing activities were under the supervision of Cpl. Lougheed. It was evident that the preplanning by Cpl. Lougheed as well as other community stakeholders ( various bylaw officers, fire officials, etc.) played a major role in the smooth operation of policing and public
safety activities throughout the evening. Although numerous people were arrested for public intoxication, there were no major problems reported.

The one tragic event of the Halloween evening was a motor vehicle collision that occurred in the Nanaimo area. The collision resulted in the death of one valley teen and injuries to several other area
teenagers.

In 2007 a proposal to move the Comox Valley Detachment Forensic Identification Unit to vacant leased office space in Courtenay was considered. The proposal was rejected due to the extreme cost involved in such a move. The rejection of this proposal has left the detachment without the amount of space required for the number of members and support staff posted to the detachment.

Every possible area in the detachment has now been converted to office space (this includes storage closets and meeting rooms). As a result of the rejection of the proposal new (and old) ideas and options have to be considered in order to alleviate the lack of work space required for a
detachment of our size. The detachment is well beyond its intended capacity and the time has come where off-site office space required. It
is essential that external office space be identified and utilized for the detachment to function without jeopardizing the investigational
process.

At the time of the previous proposal our Plainclothes Units (12 RM’s, 1 PSE) were operating in an existing space of 762 square feet. Due to
an overall increase in detachment members as well as a re-organization of other detachment resources there has been an increase in the amount of members working within the plainclothes sections. The number of people working out of the same 762 square foot area has now increased to 18 (17 RM’s, 1 PSE). The area is simply not adequate to accommodate
the number of resources assigned to these units.

The cost of moving the Plainclothes Units to the off-site location would be minimal as only some additional office furniture is required. As it presently sits the existing empty office space would require little or no structural renovation other than additional computer and phone lines.

In closing, the 2008 Tour de Rock was once again a very successful fund raising campaign. The movement of some Comox Valley Detachment personnel to additional off-site office space is required to deal with overcrowded detachment that we now use. Although the above relocation of detachment resources is not a perfect situation, the need for additional detachment space outweighs the concerns of having all detachment investigative units housed in a single building.


(T.E. GRAY), Inspector
Officer In Charge
Comox Valley Detachment

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Cpl. Ken Simmons
NCO i/c Client Services
RCMP
Comox Valley Detachment
800 Ryan Road
Courtenay, B.C.
(250) 338-1321