CITY BID FOR ELITE CRIME FIGHTERS

Hamilton-Wentworth's chief of police is talking with other forces
about establishing an elite anti-organized crime unit he hopes will be
in Hamilton. Chief Ken Robertson said his goal is to have the proposed
crime-fighting venture in place in four weeks.

"We're very close to finalizing some form of agreement as to how this
permanent unit would function," he said. Encouraging talks have taken
place over the past three months with the Royal Canadian Mounted
Police, Ontario Provincial Police and other law enforcement agencies.

Robertson has been calling for a permanent task force since he became
chief in 1998.

RCMP spokesperson Constable Michele Paradis said sites in either
Hamilton or Niagara are being considered for the proposed joint forces
unit.

Neither she nor Robertson would elaborate on the plan.

In a separate move, Paradis said the RCMP is considering merging its
Hamilton and Niagara offices in one building. Stoney Creek MP Tony
Valeri said Stoney Creek's City Hall is being considered as a possible
location.

On Tuesday, Hamilton East MP Sheila Copps said the RCMP was looking
for space in Hamilton's core for an expanded organized crime section.

There is already a Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit in
Newmarket, consisting of 70 specially designated officers from the
RCMP, OPP and Canada Immigration, as well as Toronto, York and Peel
regional police forces.

Another unit was recently set up in Cornwall.

RCMP Superintendent Ben Soave, who heads the Newmarket-based squad,
said it makes sense to have a dedicated unit for the Hamilton area.

"Hamilton, in terms of organized crime, is one of the major centres,"
he said, adding the entire country is "very desirable" for organized
criminals.

He said the unit has been extremely successful at combating organized
crime, ranging from the Mafia to biker gangs.

"I personally believe this is the way to go in terms of challenging
organized crime. The threat is a serious one."

A number of experts at Ontario's international summit on organized
crime, held in August, also recommended more joint forces units be set
up.

Soave said it's important to have a group of officers working on a
full-time, permanent basis so they can develop a working relationship
that transcends police jurisdictions.

"This is built on a team, on a partnership concept."

He said the sharing of information and resources on a long-term basis
is also essential because organized crime is complex and international
in scope.

He said some projects can take two to five years.

Robertson said a permanent force needs to keep hammering away at
organized crime to have a serious impact.

"You don't go out and make an arrest and fall back on your
commitment," he said. "You have to sustain your effort. It then
becomes a deterrent to organized crime."

Robertson was one of the original members of a now-defunct
joint-forces unit in Hamilton. Lack of funding was one of the factors
that led to its demise in the early '90s.

Some of the recent successes of the Newmarket group have been major
drug busts, as well as the arrest last year of dozens of people
accused of participating in an Eastern European organized crime
network. It was allegedly responsible for drug trafficking, casino
frauds, credit card frauds, immigration frauds and diamond smuggling,
among other crimes.

The team was also responsible for bringing down the international
crime clan of the Cuntrera-Caruana organization, thought to be one of
the most powerful crime enterprises in the world. That investigation
cost $8.8 million.

Soave said people should be concerned about organized crime groups
because they operate in many areas of the community even if they're
not visible. "Somebody selling drugs to their kid in the school yard
... that stems from organized crime," he said. "Drugs don't just
appear on the scene here."

Both the federal and provincial government have been trying to combat
organized crime.

Earlier this week, Ontario Attorney General Jim Flaherty announced he
will introduce a law allowing police to seize assets belonging to
suspected members of organized crime.