DRUG PROBLEM NEEDS ATTENTION

Our two-day special report on crime in Brantford, written by Expositor
justice reporter Heather Ibbotson and presented last week, said one
thing that most Brantford residents already take for granted:
Brantford is a fairly safe place to live. However, the report also
tipped us off to another trend most of us know little about -- a
growing problem with drug use, especially cocaine and its
highly-addictive version, crack.

Ibbotson rounded up numbers showing how the overall crime rate in
Brantford has fallen to about half of what it was in the early 1980s.

There are a lot of things that account for the drop, such as an
improved economy, more advanced crime-fighting methods (community
policing), and greater public involvement in the effort (Neighbourhood
Watch, anti-drunk driving initiatives).

Demographics come into play, too. Many crimes, particularly property
offences such as vandalism and theft, tend to be committed by younger
people. Therefore, as society in general has aged in the past 20
years, there has been a corresponding drop in the crime rate.

In those respects, Brantford is much like Canada as a
whole.

The city is also much like the rest of the country in one other
respect: even though the crime rate has fallen in recent years, the
fear of crime has risen.

There are a lot of explanations advanced to explain that, ranging from
the prevalence of violence in the media all the way to the aging of
our population.

Whatever the reason, though, it is important to keep a sense of
proportion whenever the conversation turns to crime rates. That goes
double during election campaigns when politicians try to capitalize on
this fear in order to ride into office.

There is, though, the other matter -- hard drug use -- which should be
cause for concern.

In 1982, police reported 108 incidents involving drugs. One involved
cocaine and two involved other restricted drugs. The remaining 105
were marijuana-related.

But by 1999 the number of restricted and ``hard'' drug cases jumped to
38, including six involving cocaine. Marijuana-related cases actually
dropped to 77.

But those statistics tell only part of the story. More and more often,
people are appearing in court on charges ranging from theft to robbery
with crack cocaine cited as a factor in the crime.

For example, in the past year one cocaine user was convicted of
stealing two transport trucks. Another crack addict was found guilty
of robbing a gas bar. One man staged a phony robbery to cover a theft
while another pleaded guilty to 11 break-ins.

More often than not, the motive was simply to steal enough to raise
the money to buy cocaine. Judging from the length of the sentences
handed down to some of these criminals -- anywhere from two weeks to
three years -- many are repeat offenders with criminal records.

The hard drug problem is not at the stage where it threatens to
destroy our notion of Brantford as a safe community.

But it is serious enough that it should cause our community leaders to
ask some questions. Are our police properly equipped and staffed to
confront it? Do we have the addiction counselling and treatment
programs to help these abusers? Are our programs for educating people
about drug abuse -- particularly teens and young adults -- up to the
job?

Thinking about these questions now, before the problems grow, is the
best way to ensure that our hard-won reputation as a safe place to
live continues into the future.