iN DISCUSSION: The impact of rising police budgets in Okanagan, Kamloops

This is where cold hard facts give way to the hottest of takes, mostly mine I suppose. I’m the editor, Marshall Jones.

Want to include yours? Listen, this isn’t the comment section, this isn’t social media. Discussion and debate requires context and a wee bit of bravery — we need your name and where you’re writing from. Include it in your account or email me anytime.

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How does spending more on policing impact crime? We looked at the numbers

Usually our iN NUMBERS stories are a quirky bit of data we thought you might find interesting.

This time, we wanted to look at police budgets in our major cities and were somewhat astounded at what we found, particularly in Kelowna. Perhaps it will be instructive to others.

Like most cities, Kelowna’s answer to crime and crime concerns since COVID was often to hire more police officers. It has increased its police budget by 62% since 2019.

So we started looking at crime numbers to see what it’s getting for its money. From the data, it appears — not much.

Crime statistics are funny. Hiring more police officers is just as likely to raise some stats while others fall. A team targeting drug crimes, for example, should raise drug stats, not lower them. 

But strangely, nearly all factors are flat.

Crime rates are down, police incidents down, calls for service are flat.

I really can’t explain it beyond the old lesson that throwing money at problems is no guarantee of success. Do you see something I don’t?

Email me at mjones@infonews.ca.

Mj

Marshall Jones

Managing Editor

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Prime minister’s Davos speech was heartening

I haven’t been sleeping very well.

I understand a few reasons why, but not all.

The other night I woke up around midnight and said these words loudly and clearly in my head: Zohran Mamdani.

There’s no reason some dude in Kelowna should wake up with the name of the mayor of a major US city on his mind. I don’t even know anything about the guy and I care nothing about New York politics, so it’s not that.

But I’m starting to think world events are impacting me more than I would like to admit. As a news junkie, I’ve never eaten more Tums.

I do worry about where all this leads. Pretending I don’t probably isn’t helpful.

I was heartened somewhat by Prime Minister Mark Carney’s speech in Davos yesterday. Conservative or Liberal, at least Justin Trudeau isn’t at the helm. Finally, someone named our situation, our problems clearly instead of trying to play them like it’s a game. We’re not capitulating to a bully, we’re finding more friends, we have a strategy.

Hard times are coming, it’s time to prepare.

But I checked in with a few friends and they didn’t have the same reaction. I think they are stuck on the hard times coming, I’m not sure.

I’d love to know your thoughts. Email me at mjones@infonews.ca.

Mj

Marshall Jones

Managing Editor

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Why Peter Milobar had to run for the BC Conservative leadership

Former Kamloops mayor and now MLA Peter Milobar wants to be premier.

He’s running for the leadership of his Conservative Party. 

I think he had to run.

I’ve always appreciated Milobar, no matter his role. Perhaps not the most charismatic or bold but I’m a good governance guy and he’s never embarrassed himself or his office, he’s not a grandstander, he’s not a hider. 

I think leadership is perhaps a tad premature, which I think confirms my suspicions from before the election — few MLAs are as conflicted about the guts of this Conservative Party as Peter Milobar.

Having to join John Rustad must have felt awful.

He will have had zero patience for the furthest right members of that party — particularly the infighting over the language and tenor of Indigenous issues — and their numbers are plentiful.

Now the party needs to pick a lane. 

It’s a tough choice for everyone there. Do they retool the BC Liberal brand voters turned away from? Or lean in to a right wing demographic looking for political representation and thought they’d found it?

Ready or not, Milobar must exert himself and his values at this time, even if it’s to throw support behind a candidate he can support. 

Because if they end up with another John Rustad, he might have to find another job.

I’d love your thoughts. Email me at mjones@infonews.ca.

Mj

Marshall Jones

Managing Editor

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iN RESPONSE

First Nations share salmon eggs across Canada-US border to bypass dams

Excellent work! Well done.

— Bonnie Derry via iNFOnews.ca

Canadian ex-Olympian and alleged drug kingpin Ryan Wedding arrested in Mexico: FBI

Now begins the race to see who will roll over on him first to avoid their own prosecution. Ready… set … go!

— William Mastop via iNFOnews.ca

Myles Gray police-beating death hearing in B.C. adjourned due to hot-mic obscenity

The courtroom is neither a kind nor gentle place. Harsh words get spoken, sometimes out loud and sometimes under one’s breath. The person who spoke the words needs to publicly apologize to the court and to the person they were speaking of. The Law Society may give them a very sound beating later but lets not have two very ill considered words and an obviously hostile sentiment derail an entire proceeding that has taken years to finally get to hearing.

— William Mastop via iNFOnews.ca

Trump rolls out his Board of Peace, but it’s not clear how many leaders will join him

The idea of one of the most volatile and capricious world leaders being appointed as chairman for life of the “Board of Peace” makes this whole Board of Peace nothing but an ego stroke for Donald Trump.

— William Mastop via iNFOnews.ca

iN RESPONSE to Monday’s newsletter opinion editorial on Prime Minister Carney’s speech

Hi Marshall, I agree with you wholeheartedly. We are in for some hard times. What is happening south of the border makes no sense to me. If it was just the one nut running the show who was off the rails, I could understand. But there is a whole following of this nut.
Mr. Carneys speech was the first time I felt he was going to stand up for Canada. Not bend to the will of others.
Hang on tight were in for a rough ride. Thank you for your journalism that I can follow without getting a knot in my stomach.

— Debbie Oakland via email

Trump says Carney is not ‘grateful’ in Davos speech

Dear Trump, how do you spell Whaa Whaa? Well done Mark.

— Bonnie Derry via iNFOnews.ca

Carney back home after trips to Davos, China, Qatar, focused on non-U.S. trade

Congratulations. If you annoyed Trump, you must have done something right.

— Bonnie Derry via iNFOnews.ca

‘Night and day’: Rutlander wants same response as downtown business owners

Not in any way to detract from Mr. Bocskei’s comments but I do think a stranger throwing a rock at the head of another stranger for no reason at all probably constitutes a significant threat to the public and warrants a call to the emergency line.

— William Mastop via iNFOnews.ca

iN RESPONSE to the social disorder and crime in downtown Kamloops

Kelowna businesses are upset about a five-dollar fee to attend a city-organized forum on downtown crime.

Five dollars.

The City of Kelowna says the fee is meant to reduce no-shows, and that the proceeds will go to a local charity. Still, the reaction has been loud: “tacky,” “ridiculous,” “a slap in the face.”

Meanwhile, many people in this city are struggling to afford food, housing, medication, or even a bus pass.

Perspective matters.

The story focused on business owners dealing with broken windows, vandalism, and safety concerns — all valid issues. But the outrage wasn’t really about crime itself. It was about paying five dollars to attend a discussion.

Five dollars is less than the price of a coffee and a muffin.

Yes, it’s an out-of-pocket cost, and yes, it affects cash flow. But it’s also an operating expense — the kind that is typically tax-deductible for businesses. For many residents, $5 isn’t an “insult,” it’s a calculation: food, transit, or nothing at all.

There’s also an uncomfortable truth that rarely gets acknowledged: many low-income residents don’t shop downtown in the first place. Most downtown stores cater to higher-end customers with premium-priced goods. These are premium products, in premium shops, serving a premium clientele — not your regular guy or gal trying to stretch a budget. For many of us, downtown isn’t a shopping destination; it’s a place we pass through.

So when business owners frame downtown safety purely around protecting commerce, it leaves out a large part of the community that was never their customer base to begin with.

What really stood out wasn’t the fee — it was the framing.

The coverage centred business frustration without acknowledging the wider reality of who actually bears the weight of downtown “disorder.” People dealing with homelessness, addiction, mental illness, trauma, and poverty don’t get to attend forums. They live the consequences every day.

And yet, their voices rarely make the news.

What’s missing from these conversations is nuance. Downtown safety isn’t just about storefronts and windows — it’s about housing, healthcare, addiction support, mental health services, and community stability.

If the city can ask for five dollars to prevent empty seats, it can also ask for five minutes of deeper thinking.

Because real solutions don’t come from outrage over small fees. They come from understanding the full picture.

— Randy Millis via email

Trump ties his stance on Greenland to not getting Nobel Peace Prize

This is the sort of thing that made sure that Donald Trump was not going to get the peace prize. It was never about peace. It was about doing something to get something that he wants. A big component of any peace is stability and he can’t maintain that in much of anything that he does.

— William Mastop via iNFOnews.ca

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Tara Armstrong Recall Countdown

Tara Armstrong is currently the MLA for Kelowna-Lake Country-Coldstream. She rode the coattails of the BC Conservative Party, got elected, then rejected and left the party to serve as an Independent within weeks because the Conservatives were too left wing. Now she gets to spout moronic, hateful rhetoric and claim that her riding supports her.

Elections BC says you can recall an MLA if 40% of eligible voters in the riding sign a recall petition — but not for the first 18 months after an election. Some people started an online petition calling for a byelection once she made a shift to independent, then got herself a raise by forming her own party, but it won’t mean anything until the countdown clock hits zero.

So let the countdown begin!

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