BAD GUYS WINNING

Three murders in one summer weekend and no witnesses have come forward to
ID killers

By BOB MACDONALD -- Toronto Sun

Look out for a long, hot summer of violent crime in Toronto.

It's already hitting some of the downtown areas -- and the suburbs aren't
exempt.

This past weekend, Toronto had three murders and an almost total lack of
witnesses coming forward to identify the killers. That alone should make us
wonder what's happening in segments of our society where there's fear or
even hostility in co-operating with those we appoint to enforce the law --
the police.

For instance, Benny Kenneth Cloutier, 23, was shot to death at the corner
of River and Oak Sts., just west of the Don River. No witnesses.

Neighbourhood residents, who didn't want to be identified, said the murder
seemed to be just part of the scene in their area, which they describe as a
hub for drug trafficking.

It happens too often. We just get up in the morning and clean up, said one
person who blamed "a lack of interest by politicians and police."

The night before, budding basketball star Justin Sheppard, 19, was gunned
down on a foot bridge over Rosedale Valley Rd., just a few minutes walk
north of where he lived. Witnesses said they saw a car speeding away around
1:15 a.m.

Sheppard, a half brother of pro basketball player Jamaal Magloire, had some
unspecified previous brushes with the law, but was due to take up a
basketball scholarship this fall in the U.S.

Despite pleas from his mother and Magloire, no one seemed ready to "rat" to
the police.

And then Sunday night, Ansel George Adams, 31, was shot dead at a townhouse
complex party in Scarborough attended by 50 people. Police said Adams was
"known" to them, but the partygoers fled and no witnesses had come forth.

Unfortunately, the facts show violent crimes are up in Toronto despite some
attempts to suggest "overall" crime is down.

For instance, there was a 25% jump in murders in this city last year -- 59
compared to 47 in 1999. Drug offences increased 17% -- 10,558 compared to
8,961.

'GOOD PEOPLE'

Weapon offences took a 16% leap to 4,181 from 3,589. Assaults increased 12%
to 27,770 from 24,821. Sexual assaults jumped 3.3% to 2,209 from 2,139.

Those statistics do not bode well for the future. Unless something drastic
is done, or people, especially the so-called "good people," get concerned
and demand action.

Just last week, I was driving north on Sherbourne St. in mid-evening and it
was a real eye-opener. At the Queen St. intersection, I watched a drug
dealer operating openly and neither he nor his customers seemed concerned
there were witnesses. Further along, at Dundas St., both drug dealers and
prostitutes were operating in the open.

What gives? Well, a private security officer whose company keeps dealers
and hookers out of a nearby coffee shop told me: " The cops don't hassle
them because they think they're confining them to that area."

If that's the strategy, then it stinks. It means some neighbourhoods are
being sacrificed to keep others safe. Recently, Toronto Police Chief Julian
Fantino said he's targeting organized crime -- the ones who supply the
drugs and control such things as prostitution, loansharking, smuggling and
protection rackets.

"I continue to feel that organized crime is underestimated by all of us,
especially when you realize just how much of a threat it represents to the
community," he said.

As for the politicians, isn't it well passed time that Jean Chretien's
federal government stopped fumbling around with badly administered gun
control laws that go after law abiding owners of guns and don't nail those
who sell illegal firearms and those who use them? There should be a 10-year
minimum sentence for anyone selling a gun illegally or using one in
committing a crime.

As the Ontario Harris government has asked, Ottawa should require 16 and
17-year-olds be tried and sentenced as adults for serious violent crimes
and the use of weapons.

Will these reforms happen? Probably not -- as that unnamed River St.
resident said, there's "lack of interest" by politicians.