Vancouver’s mild weather attracts chronic offenders
Posted January 26, 2013 5:24 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – Mild weather, mental illness, and drug addiction.
Those are among the reasons Vancouver police give for the high number of chronic offenders in the city.
Vancouver’s mayor is among the people wondering why the city has this many chronic offenders.
Officially, the Chronic Offender Unit is keeping track of 345 people, but police say it could be as high as 800 if they used the standard definition.
Sergeant Bill Pake says drugs and mental illness are among the reasons for the high number.
“I think we do have a huge number of mentally ill and addicted people within our city, and we have to deal with the fact they are here,” says Pake.
Police say close to 90 per cent of chronic offenders are male, and two thirds don’t have a regular home.
