POLICE SEIZED POT BY THE BUSHEL IN '04

City police working to stem the growing marijuana trade over the past
12 months have nearly doubled the amount of cash pulled from the
pockets of drug dealers in 2003.

The seizure of pot crops in 2004 was expected to bring the total
number of plants to 81,000 -- worth an estimated $100 million -- by
the end of December.

That's a significant increase from 2003, when police took $53 million
off the streets. In 2001 and 2002, police seized $9 million and $19
million, respectively.

Staff Sgt. Trevor Daroux of the Calgary Police Service's drug unit
said the increase in drug enforcement that led to these busts has had
the spin-off effect of helping to lower the number of property crimes
in the city.

While recently released police statistics show drug-related incidents
are up more than 30 per cent compared with the same period in 2003,
robberies, break and enters, theft and vehicle theft have slowed.

"When you're doing drug enforcement, you should see a decline in the
drug-related crimes, such as break and enters, thefts, robberies and
things like that," said Daroux.

The increase in pot seizures comes a year after the creation of the
Southern Alberta Marijuana Investigative Team.

"SAMIT has certainly been responsible for a large majority of the
increase, but equally important is the collaboration between SAMIT and
the various districts," said Daroux.

Tips from the public have more than doubled in the past year. There
were approximately 900 tips in 2004, compared with 427 in 2003.

According to the third-quarter report from the Calgary Police Service,
property crimes recorded decreases from the previous year.

Break and enters were down 0.5 per cent, while theft and vehicle theft
dropped by 7.6 and 10.7 per cent, respectively.

Violent crime rates were also down.

>From January to September, sex offences, robbery and assault were down
2.7 per cent, 26.9 per cent and 1.2 per cent, from the same period the
previous year.

Homicides, meanwhile, were up, from 10 in 2003 to 13 in
2004.

Janne Holmgren, a Mount Royal College criminologist, says the city's
crime rate, which rose by two per cent in 2003, has been fairly stable.

"It's steady. No more, no less," she said . "It's always going to be
there."