MORE COPS MEAN FEWER PROBLEMS

Surrey deserves applause for adding 12 new RCMP officers and 20 auxiliaries
to the detachment to help curb the drug dealing and prostitution that's
tearing apart some Surrey neighbourhoods.

The same goes for federal and provincial representatives who have been
meeting with city officials and residents to plan strategies for removing
this blight from Surrey streets.

But everyone concerned must understand more than talk is needed now.

There are ordinary people afraid to go out at night because of the crime in
their neighbourhoods.

Ordinary people have organized themselves to put pressure on hookers, pimps
and druggies to make them go away.They're going out on the street
confronting the underworld that has moved in next door and taking
considerable risk in doing so.

They're afraid, but also determined not to surrender their homes and
neighbourhoods to the Two Percenters - the tiny number who won't live by
the rules of law and society.

If these ordinary people - moms, dads and grandmothers - can stand up and
fight they've got to know their city, province and country are behind them
all the way. Enforce the law, nail the johns and put uniforms on the
street. If there's a cop on the corner, hookers won't stand on the street
looking for business and it's certain the family men who buy sex from these
women won't be coming by.

That will give residents immediate relief. At the same time,
decision-makers need to meet and make longer-range plans to deal with the
social issues which sit at the heart of these problems.

Perhaps Surrey council should listen to one of their own, Coun. Judy
Villeneuve, who for years has lobbied unsuccessfully for a comprehensive
city social policy that would provide a framework for dealing with the
dilemmas of big city life.