POLICE TARGET TRAFFICKERS IN DRUG SWEEP

34 Arrested After Eight-Day Enforcement Project

There was an obvious absence of drug dealers around Hastings and Main
Thursday after Vancouver police swept them off the streets following
an eight-day drug enforcement project that resulted in warrants being
issued for 55 persons.

By 10:30 a.m. 34 people were under arrest and facing charges of drug
trafficking, said Insp. Eric Petit, who announced the arrests while
standing in front of the Carnegie Centre at Hastings and Main.

Petit, who is in charge of policing the Downtown Eastside, said the
project was aimed at local drug dealers and those who travelled into
the city to sell drugs in the area.

"We have targeted drug traffickers on the Hastings corridor and the
violent traffickers who are not residents of the Downtown Eastside,"
said Petit.

"We are targeting them because of the negative impact drug trafficking
is having on the area.

"It results in street disorder, loss of business and a feeling of
intimidation among residents," he said.

He said police want to bring back a sense of safety to the community
and restore livability to the area.

The arrests were carried out by the drug squad and beat enforcement
teams.

Petit admitted the results would only be short-term because dealers
were not likely to stay away for long but he warned the program would
not be a "one-off."

"We'll be doing more targeting of drug traffickers and we want to make
it clear to them that if they come to the Downtown Eastside they will
be targeted," he said.

He said the 21 traffickers not arrested in the roundup would
eventually "come back here and we'll arrest them."

Those arrested were mostly selling crack cocaine.

A few weapons, mostly knives, were also confiscated, Petit
said.

Petit said the long-term solution for the many social problems in the
Downtown Eastside would require dealing with the mentally ill, the
drug addicted, and the "people down here struggling to live in this
area."

"But until this happens we have to deal with the predators who are
preying on them. We know they'll be back but we'll be waiting for
them," he said.

The project began after police received complaints from residents and
members of the business community, he said.