DOWNTOWN NEEDS MORE OFFICERS WALKING THE BEAT

Victoria's downtown is crawling with tourists, business folk and shoppers.

What you don't see are many police officers.

While it would be great to think that everything is orderly downtown,
anybody can see we have a problem with panhandlers, drug dealing and
the homeless.

If people are afraid to go downtown, our local economy will surely tank.

On a weekday afternoon, police say there could be two Victoria
officers downtown on foot, two to six on bicycles and two to six on
motorcycles.

The trouble is, they're hard to spot, leaving the perception that
Victoria police place a low priority on the core.

Mayor Alan Lowe says he doesn't want a cop on every corner for fear
Victoria would seem like a police state.

But for the $18.3 million that Victoria and Esquimalt taxpayers
jointly paid in police department salaries last year, I'd hope there
would be a few more kicking around Douglas and Fort streets.

When I holidayed in Waikiki, police officers seemed as prevalent as
tourists in flowery shirts. Having a ton of officers in the downtown
didn't resemble a police state to me. I felt safe.

Tourists often write the paper suggesting Victoria improve its image
by doing something about the unsavoury characters and illegal activity.

Maybe the sight of police officers on foot would give us all the
sense that something tangible is being done.

I'm told frustrated merchants call 911 and sometimes have to wait a
long time for a car with a constable to show up. These business
people don't want to criticize the police publicly, an understandable
concern, given their reliance on the force. But it also makes me
worry that the partnership between police and downtown business might
not be as healthy as it could be.

Panhandlers are more than a nuisance.

They're costing us money. Just last month, we heard a U.S. conference
decided not to book at the Fairmont Empress because of concerns about
street people hounding tourists for money.

Officials say budget constraints prevent more police from going
downtown, and that's a natural response.

Who wants to pay more taxes? How about if we use the officers we have
more effectively? The police have shown us they can make progress on
issues they identify as priorities. The department recently dedicated
several officers to the case of Michael Dunahee, the four-year-old
boy who disappeared from a Victoria playground in March 1991. A plea
for new leads had several officers on overtime to answer phones.

The arrest of a man in connection with two cold-case murders also was
the result of police on overtime.

And no one's quibbling about the round-the-clock police work that
follows every major crime. We want the bad guys caught as soon as possible.

Could we not get some more of those 221 sworn officers assigned to
the street on a permanent basis? They've done it on a temporary basis
in the past.

A few months ago, police held a news conference to announce 20
arrests of low-level drug dealers downtown.

Those drug dealers who were arrested were quickly replaced with 20
others, but never mind. It was the second phase of the operation that
was interesting -- more police officers would be walking downtown to
increase the perception of safety.

It was a literal step in the right direction, the only drawback being
that the increased patrols were short-lived.

Those senior officers are now back doing what they were doing before
and the downtown has returned to its usual state, with the people in
uniform being primarily commissionaires issuing parking tickets.

The police department has been run by Chief Paul Battershill since 1999.

When Victoria's city manager left his position suddenly in April,
Mayor Alan Lowe named Battershill acting city manager until a
replacement could be found. He now has two-full time jobs and is, in
effect, his own boss.

I'm lousy at supervising my own work. I rely on the sage eyes of
editors to make sure there aren't any holes in news stories and that
opinion columns are fair and balanced.

I don't know if Battershill wants to hear feedback, but it might be
worthwhile asking folks in the core whether they think Victoria
police are serving the downtown well.

What he hears might prove enlightening.