KELOWNA CRACKS DOWN ON CRACKHEADS

Drug Offenders Banned From Downtown Area Can Be Sent Back To Jail

First of two parts

KELOWNA -- Cabbie Luc Monast pulled into the McDonald's drive-through
at his passenger's request.

The man waved over three friends, who climbed into the car.

As Monast watched in disbelief, the trio pulled out cash and bought
drugs from the man. Then they heated their pipes and started smoking
crack, right in the back seat.

"The girl at the drive-through was looking at him," said Monast. "I
just kicked him out of the car."

Monast has been driving a cab in Kelowna for three years and has
lived here for 16. He says he picks up crackheads daily, even without
working downtown.

"You can't avoid them," he says.

"But the police are doing a better job" than in previous years.

It's a view shared by many residents.

They love their city of 162,000 for its Okanagan beauty and
small-town feel -- although it's the fastest-growing region in B.C.
- -- and welcome 50,000 visitors a week throughout the summer.

But, despite RCMP efforts, Kelowna has had a large and growing
crack-cocaine problem since 2002.

Kelowna's top cop, Supt. Bill McKinnon, said 80 per cent of the drugs
seized during downtown sweeps is crack cocaine.

And while the RCMP don't filter their files by drug name, they had
940 drug-offence files opened in Kelowna in 2000. By 2005, the number
of files had more than doubled to 2,399. The number dipped by about
400 last year but seems poised to increase slightly again this year,
with 1,283 drug-offence files opened between January and May.

In comparison, the Nanaimo region has a population close to 138,000
and 864 drug files in 2006.

Police say they are surprised at how little crystal meth they see in
Kelowna, compared to other cities.

"I think even those that use crack are afraid of crystal meth," says
McKinnon. "They see the consequences of regular use of crystal meth."

Not that crack is much better.

Users report an instant addiction. Because it's smoked, the high hits
in less than 10 seconds. But it only lasts 10 or 15 minutes and
leaves users feeling depressed, leading them to want more.

Long-term addicts can be compulsive and paranoid, often picturing
snakes or bugs crawling under their skin, making them scratch and
pick at themselves. They'll sport burns on their fingers and lips
from sucking on overheated pipes.

And all an addict can think about is getting more.

The day's light is still soft as Const. Martin Vardy cruises the
downtown just after 6 a.m.

He knows where the crack addicts tend to sleep and where they group
together, like the corner of Bernard and Bertram, across from the
Shopper's Drug Mart.

The first job of the day is to move people along before businesses open.

In the alley behind the Kelowna Alzheimer Resource Centre, he slows
to check for familiar faces.

"Pops! Pops!" he yells from the car. A man in dirty jeans and a
yellow jacket, sound asleep against the side of the building, doesn't move.

Vardy gets out of the car and nudges the man with his foot to wake him up.

Walking unsteadily, the grizzled man is escorted to the car to empty
his pockets. Pops pulls out a handful of pennies and some nail
clippers. He carefully cups his hands around the pennies so they
don't fall as he piles them on to the hood of the car.

Pops also has two crack pipes, which Vardy promptly confiscates.

He's about to write a ticket but the radio dispatcher interrupts.

Vardy's partner, Const. Steve Woodcox, needs help with a drunk
yelling at people in the McDonald's drive-through. The hostile drunk
takes priority over Pops, so Vardy leaves him with a warning to move along.

"And I'd better not find you in 20 minutes passed out somewhere
else," Vardy says as he drives away.

Vardy is part of Kelowna's Downtown Enforcement Unit and admits the
job can be frustrating. He and four other officers try to keep the
downtown not only safe but also appealing to tourists and residents.

They see the same faces over and over, moving from one block to
another and going back to the spots they've just been kicked out of.

"You have to keep them moving," says Vardy, who's been a Mountie for
four years, all of them in the Okanagan. "If not, there's one person,
then five minutes later there's five, then five minutes later there's 20."

The Kelowna detachment is the busiest in B.C., with the most calls
per officer. The detachment has 198 officers who handled 45,000 calls
last year.

"It's always a struggle to determine priorities for this detachment,"
says McKinnon, the superintendent.

One tool the RCMP has is Kelowna's Red Zone, a large area of the
downtown from which drug offenders can be banned as part of their
probation conditions.

So when an officer spots a dealer who has been "Red Zoned," he carts
him back to the cells.

"This Red Zone has just been a blessing for us," says Vardy. "We have
people like [him] who would just be hanging out downtown, harassing
the public. But I can almost guarantee he'll be going back to the
Kamloops Regional Detention Centre.

"Two years ago, it was just sickening. It was almost like the
Downtown Eastside," on a smaller scale.

"All day long, all they do is look for crack. It's all they do."