CHIEF'S NEW WEAPON IN DRUG WAR ANGERS ANTI-POVERTY ACTIVISTS

Police Chief Vern White's plan to report accused drug dealers to
provincial welfare authorities has drawn the ire of Ottawa
anti-poverty activists, but a University of Ottawa criminology
professor calls it an innovative idea.

"It's probably a good idea for the police to start using all the
powers that are available to them," said Michael Kempa, who studies
policing.

"We should be saying to the police, 'Go for it, try innovative things
like this, and we'll scrutinize what you're doing with existing
oversight bodies like police services board.'"

Chief White recently turned over the names of more than 100 accused
drug dealers to provincial welfare officials so the dealers can be
investigated for fraud and cut off from assistance when their income
from crack sales disqualifies them.

Mr. Kempa said since welfare fraud and drug dealing are both illegal
activities, it makes sense for police to be concerned with both.

He pointed out that 200 years ago, this all-encompassing approach to
policing wouldn't have been out of the ordinary, but today's society
has a more stratified view of how social problems should be dealt with.

"When we start talking about using or leveraging welfare fraud into
(policing), a lot of people would say that's not the business of the
police, because that has more to do with economic regulation," Mr.
Kempa said. "But if you're already dealing drugs, and therefore you've
come under the attention of also welfare fraud, these are both levers
the police can use to prevent people from dealing drugs."

However, some anti-poverty activists say Chief White's plan is
flawed.

"If they're on welfare, they're hardly big-time criminals. They're
hardly making millions out of it," said Dorothy O'Connell. "I'd like
to see the police's efforts go toward finding the big guys."

Ms. O'Connell said she thinks Chief White is simply trying to deflect
attention from failed police attempts to eradicate drugs from the streets.

Bob Rainer, the executive director of the National Anti-Poverty
Organization, said society should be focusing on the root causes of
problems like drug dealing, instead of on punishments that could make
the problem worse.

"To take away whatever form of legal income they have would seem to
me, intuitively, to lead to them to deal more drugs," he said.

"It would be a punitive thing to do, it would put more pressure on the
drug dealers to get the income they've then lost in welfare."

Mr. Kempa said drug dealers who have their welfare payments taken away
could theoretically commit more crime, but that it would likely be a
relatively small amount. He admits that while the concerns of
anti-poverty activists are valid, they don't constitute a reason for
the police not to aid in charging drug dealers with welfare fraud.

"We're not talking about decreasing welfare across the board. As long
as the police aren't taking away opportunities from the lower stratas
of society broadly, then that's not really the issue," he said.