Fatal boat crash prompts renewed call for police patrols

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Demands for increased patrols of a B.C. lake that was the scene of a fatal weekend boat crash have been repeatedly rebuffed because of cost concerns, according to a regional director responsible for the area.

Local officials have been quietly lobbying to get more police on Shuswap Lake for years, said Denis Delisle, a director with the Columbia Shuswap Regional District.

Late Saturday night, a speedboat crashed into a houseboat on the lake, killing the houseboat's 53-year-old driver, Ken Brown, and sending eight others to hospital. Police have seized and secured both boats for forensic examination as part of the investigation; no charges have been laid.

The boats were among the hundreds of vessels that had congregated on the water for the annual Canada Day fireworks.

Mr. Delisle said that when officials from the regional district meet the RCMP, they are told that "our hands our tied" and that policing levels are decided by the province. When they take the matter up with provincial officials, "They say there's just not enough funding, everybody wants more police."

The Ministry of Public Safety said in an e-mail that the province has not received a request for increased patrols on Shuswap Lake in recent years. Mr. Delisle said much of the lobbying happens informally when municipal and provincial officials gather at events like Union of B.C. Municipality general meetings.

But, in light of Saturday's fatal crash, Mr. Delisle said he will ask his fellow regional board members to put the request in writing: "We've got to get that straightened out so there is a piece of paper in front of them."

The RCMP acknowledged Tuesday that they were not on patrol during Saturday's fireworks.

"We were not there. We had been there on the first, Canada Day. We were not there that evening. We can't be there all the time," said Corporal Anne Linteau, speaking for the force on the issue from E-Division headquarters in Vancouver. "We have an enhanced police presence in the summer, but we simply cannot be there 24 hours a day. It's impossible."

She said three detachments - Chase, Salmon Arm and Sicamous - have to patrol 2,200 kilometres of shoreline around Shuswap Lake. Chase RCMP were specifically responsible for Magna Bay where the crash occurred, she said.

Al Christopherson, a local realtor who sponsored the fireworks display, said the event has been going on during the Canada Day long weekend for about four years, but does not necessarily happen on Canada Day itself. "It's usually the Saturday night of the weekend," he said.

Mr. Christopherson said the show always draws a crowd and estimated there were 300 to 400 boats out on the bay this year.

While policing levels on Shuswap Lake remain flat, the number of visitors who bring their boats to the area is rising, Mr. Delisle said. And, he added, "we're seeing much bigger, much louder, much faster boats on the lake."

Faster boats are particularly a problem at night. "On this lake, we see people driving without lights on, at dark, going really fast," Mr. Delisle said, adding that alcohol is also a factor.

Two summers ago, a young woman was killed when the speedboat she was riding in at night smashed head-on into a cliff on the side of a kilometre-wide island. The boat driver had been drinking, Mr. Delisle said.

He added that the police do their best with the resources they have. They have recently stepped up their patrols of the lake, he said, but are still only able to be on the water a handful of days a year.

By contrast, RCMP in Kelowna patrol Okanagan Lake every weekend during the summer and a few days during the week, said Kelowna RCMP Constable, Steve Holmes.

Mr. Delisle said increased enforcement on Okanagan Lake means boaters who don't want to obey the rules are finding other places to go.

"I think a lot of people down there are saying, 'Hey, let's go to the Shuswap, there's hardly anybody up there,' " he said.