CRACKDOWN ON CRACK REDUCES CRIME?

A crackdown on crack could lead to an overall crime
crackdown.

Or so such a belief seems to be indicated by the actions of the city
polices' new community support units (CSU's), formed in late May to
help communities "problem solve" and target specific neighbourhood
crime issues.

Early Tuesday morning, the latest drug bust by the District 3 unit
took out a suspected crack den in an apartment block on Anderson
Avenue in the North End, netting three arrests and a cache of crack
cocaine.

The CSU was acting on information gleaned from a wide-range of
neighbourhood sources. It was the sixth reported bust by the CSU's
since they went into action May 25, and the fifth to specifically
target drugs.

"Generally where there's drugs, there's going to be other crime,"
Const. Jacqueline Chaput said Tuesday.

Chaput's comments were made on a day when data from a new national
survey shows that Canadians see drug use and drug dealing as the
largest crime problem facing their neighbourhoods.

Statistics Canada released data Tuesday showing that between nine and
nineteen per cent of people living across 12 major Canadian cities
deemed area drug-dealing a blight on their communities.

Statistics Canada social science researcher Leslie-Anne Keown said the
survey was the first of its kind asking in-depth questions concerning
perception of signs of crime at a national level.

Keown said among the most interesting findings was that perception of
signs of crime in one area, such as drug use or drug dealing, were
generally seen with other types of incivilities having to do with
conditions in the environment, like littering and graffiti.

Winnipeg police said Tuesday that the drug-centred focus is just a
starting point for the units, and doesn't necessarily reveal what
people in an area have told police is the most pressing need for them
to focus on.

A healthy drug trade often influences the occurrence of other crimes -
like assaults when drug-fuelled disputes take place, along with thefts
from homes and cars as addicts try to drum up the cash for their next
fix.

The belief is that by going after drugs and those who deal them,
related incidents of crime are reduced.

"You might see weapons offenses, break-ins - so if the drugs are not
in the neighbourhood, all those can be reduced as a result of the
drugs being taken out," said Chaput.

Prostitution and the sale of harder drugs like crack and
methamphetamine often also go hand-in-hand, police said.

Police chief Keith McCaskill diverted 67 officers from other areas of
the force to form the support units, amounting to about 11 extra
officers being dedicated to each of the city's six policing districts.

Division commanders are given discretion on how they use their
complement of new troops. While in the North End, assigned officers
seem to be actively targeting drug dens, while in the downtown area,
CSU foot patrols have made recent weapons arrests.