B.C. CITIES UNDER STREET CRIME SIEGE

PUBLIC SAFETY: 'We are all victims of street crime,' city officials say

How safe are your streets? Community safety is in part a product of
perception. Highly visible street behaviours -- drug use, dealing,
property crime and vandalism -- create a sense of degraded livability
and public insecurity.

Many B.C. residents feel they're living under a street crime siege.
Sixty-seven per cent said crime was a serious problem in their
community in a 2004 Ipsos-Reid poll, up 10 per cent from 1999.

Lower Mainland city officials shared their own top crime and safety
concerns in a Province survey.

In Richmond, it's grow-ops and meth labs; in Pitt Meadows it's youth
mischief; in Chilliwack it's grow-ops and car theft; in Burnaby it's
drug use and trafficking; in North Delta, drug use and guns; in
Langley, homelessness and mischief; in Maple Ridge, property crime and
crystal meth; in Mission, drugs, grow-ops and graffiti; in New
Westminster, homeless and repeat offenders; in Surrey, homelessness
and drug dealing; in Abbotsford, grow-ops and meth labs; and in North
Vancouver, theft of and from autos.

"We are all victims of street crime," says Mission Coun. Paul Horn,
the municipality's chair of public safety.

To fight it, communities need multiple strategies.

"We need to do more than simply deal with the effects of crime; we
need to be proactive," says Surrey Mayor Dianne Watts.

If we don't deal with it, we end up paying for it. Vancouver residents
lose $108 million a year to property crime, according to the Board of
Trade. Businesses lose $20 million. Each year at least $100 million
worth of drugs are used in Vancouver. It takes a lot of street crime
to pay that drug bill.

Not all citizens want more harm-reduction. Many want a harder line.
Chilliwack Coun. Sharon Gaetz says citizens are clamouring for tougher
sentences.

"People in the justice system have said it doesn't help to build more
jails and to jail people," says Chilliwack's public safety committee
chair. "But our community has spoken pretty loudly in saying, 'Too
bad. They're off the street, they're not committing crime . . . we'd
rather pay for them to be locked up."

A 2002 Ipsos-Reid poll found one in three B.C. households was a victim
of crime in the past two years. Seven of 10 thought the justice system
was "too soft." Sixty per cent would pay more taxes to hire more police.

In addition to more police, civic leaders also want social
supports.

"There is too little help for children at risk, people suffering from
addictions, the mentally ill and those in extreme poverty," says
Burnaby Mayor Derek Corrigan. "Crime increases with the loss of
support and services."

Ultimately, residents who see their neighbourhoods declining can live
with it, move from it or do something about it.

"The key," says Pitt Meadows Coun. Andrew Tolchard, "is the population
taking ownership. Too many times we expect our neighbours to be doing
something."