THE RED ZONE EFFECT

Banned. Since last June, more than 80 sex-trade workers, drug dealers,
addicts and johns have been prohibited by court orders from entering
two neighbourhoods of the city's north and south shores. Many
residents and businesses applauded the zones when they were
established, saying they brought needed relief from street crime.
Eight months later, is the impact still felt?

Bob Hughes' office once sat on the edge of what he describes as "a war
zone" - the epicentre of the city's street-level drug and sex trades.

Today, Tranquille Road and the nearby streets and alleys are
remarkably different. The open trade in sex and drugs that besieged
residents and businesses is largely gone, said the executive director
of the AIDS Society of Kamloops.

His office sits on Tranquille Road and is one of the social agencies
that provide services to sex-trade workers and drug addicts - the very
people targeted by the red zone.

While it's still possible to find signs of drugs and prostitution on
the North Shore's streets and alleys, the open trade in society's
dysfunction isn't easily seen anymore, he said.

The reason? A thick red line, drawn on a map around a several-block
area of the neighbourhood.

The so-called "red zone" - one of two in Kamloops created last summer
as part of undercover enforcement campaigns aimed at sex-trade
workers, their customers and drug dealers - had tremendous impact,
Hughes said.

The North Shore red zone reduced the concentration of criminal
activity that plagued the area and made the neighbourhood more livable
again for residents and businesses.

"It was a mini (Vancouver) Eastside. I applauded the RCMP coming in
with enforcement, it really needed to happen. It was a war zone, the
neighbourhood was being neglected, it needed enforcement.

"The (red zone's) immediate impact was promising and important for the
(North Shore) business community, which was being inundated, and, I
would argue, had been neglected for many years.

"It restored a semblance of safety and ownership back into the North
Shore community," Hughes said.

"But it will require ongoing enforcement, or it will prove to be
nothing but a short-term solution."

RCMP Insp. Yves Lacasse said police in Kamloops will make enforcement
in the red zones an ongoing priority.

A similar red zone around the city's downtown core will also get
attention.

In fact, Lacasse said one of the areas of greatest concern right now
is the South Shore red zone, where it appears a handful of new drug
dealers have emerged, fuelling new problems.

Officers are always looking for ways to "turn up the heat" on crime,
Lacasse said, and his teams will find ways to target problems when
they emerge.

"It was not just about implementing red zones and giving up on other
projects, it's about staying on top of the problems. We need to be
quick when we deal with these issues, but we also need to maintain.
"As soon as there is a hot spot . we will go and attack the problem,
and we will not give up."

So, where are the drug dealers and prostitutes doing business in
Kamloops, if not in the places they used to?

Lacasse said information police get indicates many of the red-zoned
dealers have been forced into vehicles, travelling from parking lot to
parking lot, or into the bars, in search of their customers.

Such behaviour is riskier for them, making the chances of apprehension
that much greater. Future charges will also lead to further red zone
prohibitions.

"We used to have a very reactive police detachment. Three years ago,
officers responded and tried to solve them. Now, we are trying to stay
ahead of the bad guy.

"We are making it very uncomfortable for people to do their (illegal)
business in town, and that is all we can do," he said.

Will there be more red zones, in other parts of the city in the
future? Lacasse said no more are planned at the moment, but police
will react if problems emerge.

"If you recall what the North Shore used to look like, it was filled
with drug dealers and sex-trade workers," he said. "If you were to
take a vote, you would find the red zones have been very effective."

Hughes agreed the key to the long-term success of the red zones lies
in the ability of all the city's services and agencies to work together.

In the earliest days of the red zones, many sex-trade workers were
banned from attending the zones even to reach places that provided
support services and counselling - places like his society's Wellness
Centre.

That changed, he added, after social outreach staff worked with
corrections services to tailor red zone prohibitions for offenders
such that they can still enter when they must, to attend counselling
or seek treatment.

Kamloops Mayor Terry Lake said the City sees value in socially
co-operative efforts to reduce crime.

The SHOP program and a community-safety partnership agreement now in
the works hope to bring together social agencies and law enforcement
to tackle the long-term problems that make red zones necessary.

Until the day when such efforts yield success, however, Lake said he's
content with the red zone concept.

"Businesses and residents in those areas suffer from the chronic
effects of street disorder, and the red zones, while not a solution,
give some relief to them while other measures are taken."