CONCERNED RESIDENT STARTED PHOTOGRAPHING DEALERS, ADDICTS

East Vancouver: Plagued Community Pleads for Improved Police
Presence

For Lori, the last straw was being offered cocaine and heroin by four
drug dealers on the corner of 10th and Commercial in East Vancouver.

After months of dodging the growing flock of dealers and addicts doing
business in her neighbourhood and watching her building and others
broken into, the former corrections officer -- who, out of fear, asked
that her last name be withheld -- decided it was time to do something.

So she went home, grabbed her camera and started taking
photos.

"These people were like the living dead. They jumped up and ran at
me," she said. "I was chased out. I was afraid. I was so scared
somebody would follow me."

With dealers and users increasingly pushed out of the Downtown
Eastside, the area around 12th and Victoria, Broadway and Commercial
and Salsbury and Kitchener needs help, she says.

"We need awareness," she told The Province last week. "We would like
community-crime offices to facilitate and bring the community together
. . . Weekly, this area is just getting worse."

A group of men have even stolen the lobby security camera in Lori's
building. A second, hidden camera caught them in the act as they tried
to open apartment doors and paused to read notices pinned to the lobby
bulletin board.

Eunice, who lives in the same building as Lori, says there are too few
cops walking the beat.

"It just makes me angry it's got this bad," Eunice said. "There isn't
a visible police presence here."

"There's 28 suites here and 28 concerns," Lori added.

Eunice and Lori are careful to point out they don't want to bash
police.

But they are worried about longer response times and visibility, they
say.

They want businesses and area residents who share their views to help
with an initiative jointly led by the community and police.

An independent consultant reported in 2004 that the Vancouver Police
Department's response times for crimes in progress and serious
incidents rose from seven minutes in 1994 to 13 minutes a decade
later. The average is six minutes in most large North American cities.

Lori recalled an incident when she came across a group of crack
addicts smoking the drug while sitting on her car. She backed off to
call police, but the 911 operator told her police were "too busy" to
attend and to move the group along herself.

Some businesses in downtown Vancouver and in Kerrisdale have grouped
together to hire private security guards.

For the moment, Lori says, a good start would be for businesses in her
area to install lights in back alleys.

But Vancouver police spokesman Const. Howard Chow urges caution in
confronting overzealous panhandlers, dealers and addicts.

As far as police are concerned, the crime rate in Lori's neighbourhood
has fallen over the past two years, he said.

Lori suggested that may be because fewer people are bothering to call
police.