MARCHERS SAY NO MORE PROSTITUTION

About 100 people marched along King George Highway Monday evening demanding
an end to the crime drawn to their neighbourhoods by prostitutes.

The marchers represented neighbourhoods along a four-kilometre stretch of
King George from 96th Avenue in the north, to 76th Avenue in the south.
They say for years, prostitutes working the highway and side streets have
attracted drug houses and other crime.

The problems are making their neighbourhoods unlivable and putting them and
their families at risk, the marchers say, and they want something done - now.

Stephanie DeRapp is an organizer with one march group in the area of 92nd
Avenue and King George Highway. Two recent incidents involving strangers -
both women - accosting Cindrich elementary school children have heightened
her sense of danger.

DeRapp and other march organizers will meet with Surrey council on June 26
to discuss their concerns and to demand action.

"Our first priority will be to ask for real, immediate relief - probably a
stronger police presence. That will be our short-term recommendation," she
said Tuesday.

Organizers will also ask the city to support their demand for more action
on the part of the provincial and federal governments. They want senior
governments to make more funding available for the long-term services
needed to solve the problems of drugs and prostitution.

DeRapp said they want better tracking of sex trade activity in Surrey, the
establishment of a detox centre in the city and tougher sanctions against
landlords who rent their properties to tenants engaged in criminal enterprise.

Mayor Doug McCallum said he supports all of these recommendations and noted
the city has already taken steps in the same direction.

The city has launched the operation of its Direct Action Response Team
(DART) to address the enforcement aspect, he said. DART combines police,
fire, bylaw officers and other city staff in a program to spot and respond
to criminal activity throughout the city.

On Monday, council gave final approval to a bylaw which allows the city to
recover the cost of taking down drug houses from landlords and levy fines
up to $5,000.

And McCallum said the city is working on a broader strategy to deal with
the drug problem.

"We're working on a number of things at the treatment end. They're not
really the city's responsibility, but we've got to do it," he said.

"We need to co-ordinate all of it and be asking the provincial and federal
governments to do more on their end. They have to provide the funding for
these things."