PROCEEDS OF CRIME TO AID PREVENTION EFFORTS, VICTIMS

VICTORIA – Communities across B.C. will share in $500,000 forfeited as a result of unlawful activity, Solicitor General John Les announced today.

“The growing success we are enjoying with our civil forfeiture program will help advance the Community Safety Strategy envisioned in the throne speech,” said Les. “Now, it’s time to share our success by using the proceeds to support grassroots crime prevention and victims’ assistance in communities across the province. The fact it’s coming out of lawbreakers’ pockets makes this program even more satisfying.”

The new funding program will provide one-time-only grants of up to $20,000 to help prevent and address the effects of crime. Local governments, community and youth organizations, school districts, police departments, victim service programs, Aboriginal organizations and First Nations bands are invited to apply. The Province will give priority to projects that address one or more of the following:

· Tackle the root causes or risk factors that contribute to crime. These include individual risk factors like a history of violence and substance abuse; family risks such as poor parenting skills or family violence; and community risks such as high crime or needed services.

· Respond to local, specified crime issues.

· Increase the ability of victims and community members to fully participate in justice processes, like the opportunities already provided by alternative or restorative justice programs in many B.C. communities.

· Adopt evidence-based community safety and crime prevention approaches that have proven effective in other jurisdictions.

· Focus on the needs of rural and Aboriginal communities.

“Organizations in smaller communities can accomplish a great deal on the crime front with just a small amount of seed money,” said Kamloops Mayor Terry Lake, who chairs the Community Safety Committee of the Union of B.C. Municipalities. “These grants will be an effective tool for dealing with neighbourhood crime problems within cities and towns.”

“We support and refer cases to the Civil Forfeiture Office to help remove the profit motive from crime in our community,” said Jim Cessford, Chief Constable, Delta Police Department. “Knowing the proceeds will help communities prevent crime and aid victims will encourage more police departments to refer files for civil forfeiture action where appropriate.”

The grants from civil forfeiture proceeds will build on the additional $17 million over three years that Balanced Budget 2008 provides for victim services programs. To date, $3.4 million in assets have been forfeited. The Province first made civil forfeiture proceeds available last July, when $500,000 in seized proceeds of an unregistered investment scheme – one that used money from new investors to pay out current investors – were returned to their rightful owners.

Communities and organizations interested in applying for the new grants are invited to contact the ministry’s Victim Services and Community Programs Division at 604 660-3747.

The Civil Forfeiture Act was devised to help take the profit out of organized crime and other illegal activities. Where it has been proven in civil court that property was acquired as a result of, or used for, unlawful activity, the Supreme Court can order the property forfeited. Proceeds from its sale are paid into a special account to:

· Compensate eligible victims of an unlawful activity.

· Prevent unlawful activities by providing grants to fund crime prevention activities.

· Remedy the effects of unlawful activities.

· Cover costs related to the administration of the act.

The B.C. government introduced the act in March 2005 and it came into force in April 2006.

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Media contact:	Cindy Rose Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General 250 356-6961

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