DRUG USE 'OUT OF CONTROL' IN CORE WARD

Rideau-Vanier Councillor, Group Want Special Police Cleanup Unit

Drug use "has never been so been so out of control" in downtown
Ottawa's east side, and the police need to dedicate a special unit to
address the problem, a group of community leaders says.

The group is led by Rideau-Vanier Councillor Georges Bedard, the
heads of two major social service agencies in that ward, and the
area's 500-member business improvement association.

Ottawa police Const. Steven Desjourdy said there are no plans for
such a unit, but 10 officers have recently been added to the force's
drug squad and police plan a strategy to deal with the problem.

He said the strategy will address all different levels of the drug
world from street pushers to high-level dealers.

"I think we'll be seeing positive results from this in the next few
months," Const. Desjourdy said.

He said the force welcomes the input from the group and wants to work
with the community to deal with the issue.

However, members of the group say a dedicated unit targeting the
street-level drug problem is needed.

"We are now living in an unsafe environment where the drug dealers
are preying on the homeless and making their life situations even
more difficult than they already area," said the co-executive
directors of the Shepherds of Good Hope in a recent letter to police
Chief Vince Bevan.

"Crack houses, drug dealers, drug users, and a higher-than-usual
level of crime are symptoms of the drug issues in the area," The
Ottawa Mission's executive director, Diane Morrison, said in a similar letter.

Brian McQuaid, chairman of the Downtown Rideau Board of Management,
said drug use and crime have surpassed officers' abilities to deal
with the problem under current staffing levels.

"The insurgence of these drugs in our community, and the crimes
directly linked to them, go beyond these officers' capacities," he
said. The officers "need and deserve to be supported with proactive
resources specific to our needs ... before this cancer manifests and
spreads any farther in our community."

Police statistics show Rideau-Vanier Ward has more crimes per capita
than any other. Rideau-Vanier's total crime rate of 15,218 incidents
per 100,000 people in 2005 is almost three times higher than the
city's overall rate of 5,785 per 100,000.

In 2005, the ward had the most violent and property crimes per capita
and finished second to Somerset Ward in break and enters.

Last month, things got so bad at the Shepherds of Good Hope that
officials closed the facility for two days.

Officials at the combination drop-in centre, soup kitchen and shelter
said there was so much drug dealing and use going on in its facility,
it had to close for safety reasons.

At the Salvation Army shelter on George Street, officials have hired
private security guards to deal with unruly drug users.

Drug use is becoming so prevalent in the area that last month during
a tour of the Byward Market, Mayor Larry O'Brien, then a candidate,
came face-to-face with a man using crack and watched officers arrest
another man for drug possession.

Also last summer, a Citizen reporter spent four hours observing
Rideau Street and witnessed dozens of quick, hand-to-hand
transactions of money for small packages.

Mr. Bedard said he understands getting rid of the problem will
require prevention programs and treatment programs, as well as
increased enforcement.

He also says members of the community need to buy into the effort to
take back their neighbourhoods.

"We need to get back to the neighourhood watch and work together to
get rid of this sort of activity," he said. "Turning a blind eye to
the problem will not make it go away."

However, he said citizens and businesses can report all the criminal
activity they want, but if police can't respond, the effort is wasted.

That's why he's asking police to set up a special drug unit to deal
with crack houses and street trafficking in the Byward Market,
Lowertown, Sandy Hill and Vanier.

"It's imperative that measures be taken immediately to tackle this
problem before it gets completely out of control," he said.