'PARADIGM SHIFT' MADE TO FIGHT CRIME IN THE CITY

A wide-ranging plan to cut crime in Surrey was unveiled Monday by
Mayor Dianne Watts.

Surrey's crime reduction strategy is the culmination of several
months' work by a task force established by Watts to find ways to
integrate the efforts of police, courts, corrections, drug
rehabilitation programs and a host of social agencies to address the
root causes of criminal behaviour.

"This is a complete paradigm shift. Surrey is the first Canadian city
to take this approach," Watts told a press conference at the Surrey
RCMP detachment office Monday morning.

Watts led delegations to the United Kingdom and New York City to
study how officials in those jurisdictions have successfully reduced crime.

"We found co-ordinated, cross-jurisdictional efforts," Watts said.
"In New York City, we found support systems for offenders right in
the courthouse."

Watts wants to establish a community court in Surrey where addicts
would be sent to treatment centres instead of jail. Probation orders
would require offenders to take part in addiction treatment, job
search and other support programs aimed at weaning them off of a life of crime.

Watts also wants to see closed-circuit TV cameras monitoring street
activity in crime "hot spots," the creation of community drug action
teams, prolific offender management teams, increased affordable
housing, more police officers and 50 community safety officers on
Surrey streets.

"It has to be a shift from what we've been doing in the past. We need
a collective problem-solving approach," Watts said.

B.C. Attorney General Wally Oppal applauded Surrey's plan and agreed
co-ordination of all involved is necessary. "We have a tendency to
work in silos in the justice business. The lawyers work
independently, judges work independently. The New York model is a
picture of a community working together," Oppal said.

"We can no longer deal with the symptoms of crime. We have to deal
with the root causes."

Oppal's ministry would have to approve and fund a community court in
Surrey. When asked when he would be prepared to move, Oppal dodged
the question. "I don't think you need a community court as such to
achieve crime reduction," he said, adding he had no timeline in mind
for such a court in Surrey. "But I can see it coming."

Both Watts and Oppal said they believe much of what will be needed to
make the strategy work is already in place; it just has to be used
more efficiently. "I don't see this being a large-ticket item," Watts said.

The Strategy

Surrey's Crime Reduction Strategy is broken down into four components:

- - Prevent and deter crime (initiatives such as surveillance cameras,
drug action teams and community safety officers) - Apprehend and
prosecute offenders (Identifying prolific offenders and crime hot
spots, night courts, etc.) - Rehabilitate and reintegrate offenders
(Expanded treatment through the private sectors, regional approach to
treatment, full-time homelessness outreach workers) - Reality and
perceptions of crime (communications strategy, working with seniors
and the most vulnerable, leaflet drops in areas after drug houses are
taken down).