CITY CORE NOT AS BAD AS DOWNTOWN EASTSIDE

NEW WESTMINSTER - The New Westminster Police Service doesn't think
comparisons to the drugs and crime of Vancouver's Downtown Eastside are
warranted. Deputy Police Chief Mike Judd takes issue with a recent
published interview in which Coun. Casey Cook said the downtown "has the
makings" of what it looked like in the Downtown Eastside when its problems
started. Judd said "in the overall context, we are light-years ahead of
where we were 10 years ago, five years ago." He said drug activity
increased this year as a "direct consequence" to enforcement efforts in
other cities and due to a large increase in the homeless population.