B.C. sends extra police to Williams Lake in response to council’s state of emergency proposal [Video]

City council in Williams Lake, B.C., won’t be declaring a state of local emergency to respond to street disorder after the provincial government promised to immediately deploy more police to help with growing concerns.

Some councillors in the community of about 23,000 people, 320 kilometres northeast of Vancouver, had expressed interest in declaring a state of local emergency to address local crime, which they said ranged from break-ins and public drug use to theft and vandalism, from a small number of repeat offenders.

Such a declaration could provide the municipality with “emergency powers” such as suspending bylaws, ordering road closures or restricting public gatherings, according to a staff report.

But at a special council meeting on June 3, Mayor Surinderpal Rathor announced the Ministry of Public Safety had requested the Cariboo-Chilcotin crime reduction unit be immediately deployed to Williams Lake “to assess the situation and develop operational plans.”

Rathor said the unit could arrive …