CRIME TASK FORCE CALLS ON CALGARIANS

A crime prevention task force touring the province is hearing what
most of us already know -- organized crime, drugs and prostitution
rank high among Albertans' biggest safety worries.

The Alberta Crime Reduction and Safe Communities Task Force is coming
Thursday to Calgary, the last stop on a two-month tour.

The province has investing $1.5 million in the task force.

The panel of politicians and citizens has been touring 14 locations
since April, including Banff, Brooks, Lethbridge, Medicine Hat and Red Deer.

The task force has been asking for ideas on how to reduce crime,
enhance safety and improve confidence in the justice system before
hosting a symposium in late June.

"We're seeing a lot of similarities: drugs, alcohol, gangs, organized
crime and family breakups," said task force chairwoman and Calgary
MLA Heather Forsyth.

"Some terrible things are happening in some of these areas," she
said, describing the reserve at Hobbema, located between Edmonton and
Red Deer, as "a war zone" because of gang troubles.

One constant every community can relate to is drug trafficking.

"I'm amazed at the amount of drugs we're hearing about," said
Forsyth. "It's the prevalence of it, I guess, more than anything."

While the task force is learning about Albertans' concerns, it's a
costly lesson with no surprises, said the Alberta Liberals' solicitor
general critic Mo Elsalhy.

"This is an expensive exercise where you're likely to hear something
you've heard before. Nothing's new about it," he said.

Elsalhy said that $1.5 million, for example, "could get you 11 or 12
good beat officers for a year."

The panel's final public meeting is planned for Thursday at the
University of Calgary's MacEwan Centre Hall from 5 to 8 p.m.

Recommendations for stiffer penalties may help ease fears of
organized crime and marijuana grow operations infiltrating Calgary's suburbs.

"People don't feel safe like they used to. Crime is frequently at the
top of opinion polls," said Shawn Howard, founder of the Canadian
Justice Foundation.

"If you want to go after these organized criminal networks,
politicians need to change the laws to give more resources to police
officers. There has to be a political will, there has to be funding
and long-term teams of dedicated officers who can infiltrate and go
after these networks of criminals.

"Once you shut these down, the impact is huge. I'm confident the
government is going to take these recommendations and push forward on
them," said Howard.

One task force member who lost her son five years ago said he might
be alive today if initiatives like the anti-crime task force had
existed sooner.

"It's not your normal typical government task force, we're all just
regular, normal people. We've all been affected by crime," said Karen
Venables. Her son Devin was killed after being punched outside a bar.

"There's a big drug issue in our province. We all have that fallacy
that a smaller community makes you safer, but I'm finding the issues
are everywhere," she said. "We're all facing the same issues --
violent crimes, gang issues, family violence and domestic violence."

Calgarian Art Sheeler, who has been vocal about prostitution
overtaking his Forest Lawn neighbourhood, said he's looking forward
to sharing his concerns with the panel on Thursday.

"We have to do something with our laws, they need to be changed. I
don't know if it will be on the provincial or federal level, but if
you don't have deterrents, you're not going to stop crime. We've got
to come up with ways to deter them so these people can't continue,"
said Sheeler.

The group's final report should be submitted to Justice Minister Ron
Stevens by fall.

Other Calgarians on the task force include Ald. Ric McIver and
Jennifer Scheible.

McIver has sat on a number of committees, including the Calgary
police commission, Coalition of Concerned Communities and the Safer
Streets steering committee.

Scheible is a former runaway and drug addict who, as a youngster,
moved between group homes before winding up on the streets of
Toronto. She has worked as an executive counsellor for the past 10
years with the Alberta Adolescent Recovery Centre, where she sought
help after returning to Calgary in 1992.

Other task force members include: Edmonton police Chief Mike Boyd;
Wayne Renke, associate dean of the University of Alberta faculty of
law; Dwight Oliver, reeve of Clearwater County; Chester Cunningham of
the Native Counselling Services of Alberta; and Crown prosecutor Susan Hughson.

Forsyth is a former solicitor general and children's services
minister who introduced the Protection of Children Involved in
Prostitution Act and the country's first-ever Amber Alert program.