BEND RULES TO FOIL ORGANIZED CRIME: POLL

Most Say End Justifies Cops' Means. Majority of Respondents Say
Prosecution Is Okay on Basis of Membership Alone

Canadians want a crackdown on organized crime and overwhelmingly
support officers breaking the law to infiltrate gangs, a new federal
government poll indicates.

The national survey, conducted for the Department of Public Safety,
also reveals a majority of Canadians believe organized crime is "as
serious" a threat to Canada as terrorism, with seven of 10 wanting
improvements in the federal government's level of effort to combat
it.

A remarkable 48 per cent of Canadians responded organized crime had an
impact on them personally, and identified drug trafficking as the
crime with the highest level of correlation to the criminal activity.

And more than half (54 per cent) agree members of motorcycle gangs
should be prosecuted based on participation alone, regardless of
whether they have committed a crime.

"The majority of respondents believe that undercover police officers
should be permitted to commit certain crimes in order to infiltrate
gangs - 40 per cent strongly agree and 35 per cent somewhat agree,"
said the survey's executive summary.

But Alan Borovoy, the general counsel for the Canadian Civil Liberties
Association, wondered if the Conservative government were in the
process of preparing legislation giving police greater powers and was
using the survey to create the need for new laws.

He warned the issue is not as black and white as presented by the
survey and that police already have sweeping powers to battle crime.

He said the association's position on the issue is nuanced, and it
acknowledges there are "extreme" situations in which the case can be
made to allow police to break the law.

"In the past, they've argued for these powers at a time when you were
reading in the newspapers about police conducting busts here and busts
there, and busting up that ring and this ring, and you start to
wonder, if they are doing so well with all these powers, where is the
argument for anything new," Borovoy said.

The executive summary put out by Public Safety Canada with the poll
said it was conducted to "examine public perceptions of the prevalence
of organized crime, the perceived risk of victimization and how
Canadians view efforts to combat organized crime in Canada."