MOUNTIES CLEAN UP KELOWNA

Increased Policing May Be Moving Druggies To Other Jurisdictions

A crackdown on drug dealers and users by Kelowna RCMP is making the
city safer, but at the expense of the Lower Mainland and other B.C.
communities.

"I think the downtown's in the best shape it's been in four years,"
Supt. Bill McKinnon told Kelowna city council earlier this week.

McKinnon said he has heard complaints from police officers in the
Lower Mainland and Penticton that aggressive enforcement against
crack shacks in Kelowna has caused many users and dealers to move
elsewhere in the province.

He acknowledged that such displacement doesn't solve the drug
problem, but it does make Kelowna parks and the downtown core safer.

"Congratulations on creating the reputation of Kelowna as a tough
place to operate a crack shack," Coun. Norm Letnick told McKinnon.

Letnick urged police in other municipalities to take a similarly
aggressive stand against crack shacks.

"Then we can displace the problem right out of the province," he said.

Surrey RCMP media liaison Sgt. Roger Morrow said yesterday he hasn't
noticed an influx of crackheads to his city.

"We attack the crack shacks here, typically in the northern end of
Surrey, on an ongoing basis," said Morrow.

"They will sometimes move down the block and hopefully move out of
the city, but what the displacement is, I'm not aware in detail.

"Normally, that doesn't hit our radar screen as to where the people
are from," he added.

"We're attacking the home and the drugs and the people that are in
it, but we don't go taking a survey: 'Did you come down here because
you got kicked out of Kelowna?'"

Morrow said Surrey RCMP uses both uniformed and undercover officers
to target crack houses in an effort "to shut them down.

"That goes from dial-a-dopers, crack shacks right up to the major
players," said Morrow.

He added effective law enforcement initiatives aimed at residential
homes being used as marijuana grow-ops have forced them "farther east
in the [Fraser] Valley because we're putting the heat on them here."

He said at least 12 homes, mainly in North Surrey, have been seized
and forfeited under proceeds of crime legislation.