HANGING UP ON DIAL-A-DOPE DEALERS

City Council Votes To Remove Pay Phone Used By Pushers

Mission council wants to deal a blow to dial-a-dope drug dealers by
removing the last pay phone in the city's downtown core.

"Because of the anonymity these phones allow, people are calling out
to their customers to deal drugs," said Coun. Paul Horn. "People
actually come down into the vicinity of the pay phone to pick up
their drugs and unfortunately even tend to use them in the same area.

"People really want to live and do business downtown but they're
being deterred by some of this activity that's going on down there."

Council voted 4-3 last week to remove the phone near the intersection
of Welton Street and 2nd Avenue.

Telus has a different idea.

"We have concerns about removing pay phones entirely," said Telus
spokesman Shawn Hall. "People do rely on them for access to 911 and
other important services.

"In the past we've received similar complaints and we've been able to
address those without removing the phones."

One solution is a curfewed phone. In daylight hours it works as a
standard pay phone but between 9 p.m. and

6 a.m. it can only be used to call 911.

A number of curfewed phones are in place in B.C., including several
in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside.

Another solution is moving the phone indoors.

"We would be happy to come and meet with city council and talk about
options like that," Hall said.

Council is considering removing two other pay phones police say are
used mostly by drug dealers -- one at Hurd Street and 7th Avenue and
one at Grand Street and 7th.

"The pay phone is not a big part of most of our lives any more," Horn
said. "We're seeing that cellphones are pervasive. Everyone has them,
from very young children nowadays to seniors."

Since 2003, the number of pay phones in B.C. and Alberta has declined
from 33,400 to 29,500.