POLICE PUT HEAT ON 'BAD' BUSINESSES

Council Asked To Make It Easier To Close Hotels Tied To Crime

VANCOUVER - Vancouver police want the city to tie hotels' liquor
licences to their business licences, to make it easier to close hotels
involved in illegal activities.

The recommendation was made Thursday, the day after police raided two
inner-city hotels as part of a three-month undercover police operation
to crack down on the underground economy in the Downtown Eastside.

At present, hotels must get a business licence to operate the hotel,
plus a liquor licence if they want to operate a bar in the hotel.

"Licensed establishments often have a different name listed on their
liquor licence than from their business licences, so it's difficult to
shut down an entire place," said police Insp. John McKay.

Vancouver Coun. Jim Green said it's a good idea to connect the
licences, but he doesn't know what legalities might be involved.

"It would help curb illegal activity in hotels, but we also have to
crack down on the corner store that's selling things like drugs," he
said. "If the Downtown Eastside is going to change, we have to have
legitimate businesses operating in the area."

The police crackdown included raids of the American and Marr hotels
Wednesday, and the temporary suspension of the American hotel's liquor
licence.

Police recovered drugs, illegal cigarettes and stolen property in
their search of the American hotel on Main Street.

Their search of the Marr Hotel on Powell Street yielded weapons, drugs
and $30,000 to $50,000 worth of goods.

The police investigated 20 licensed establishments, pawnshops and
convenience stores in the Downtown Eastside, and are now working with
the city licensing department in the hopes that a number of business
licences will be permanently revoked.

Vancouver police Insp. Bob Rolls said the idea of the operation was to
target bad businesses, crack down on the city's underground economy
and open the way for new, legitimate business.

"By closing these businesses or curtailing the criminal activities
associated with them, we are confident that the Downtown Eastside will
be better positioned to move ahead with the many revitalization
strategies currently being developed," said Rolls.

McKay described some hotels in the area as fortresses that require
passwords for entry, and said the money destined for drugs often flows
through them. He said staff of hotels, pubs and pawnshops are often
complicit in the fencing of stolen property obtained from crimes
committed throughout the Lower Mainland.

"There's a lot of predatory people down there. They're just raping the
social system that you and me pay for," he said.

About 28 criminal charges have been laid as a result of the operation,
but project leader Insp. Ken Frail said the objective was not to go
after individuals, but after businesses involved in illegal activity.

"It's [the Downtown Eastside] often described as the poorest postal
code in Canada and if we were to capture the money that flowed through
the neighbourhood in terms of drugs and stolen property, it would
certainly be one of the wealthiest neighbourhoods in the country," he
said.

The project involved more than 100 officers, said Frail, some of whom
posed as drug dealers, as people selling and buying stolen property
and as mentally disabled residents.

During their investigation, officers found hotel clerks who would take
a cut from rooms they rented by the hour to prostitutes or drug
dealers, and convenience store workers who would buy stolen property
from them.

Frail said officers also reported being shocked by the way they were
sometimes treated.

For example, he said, one female officer who was selling goods to a
pawnshop was asked to undress and solicited for sex.

Frail said a predatory atmosphere exists in the neighbourhood.

In another case, an officer posing as a mentally disabled person ended
up on the street after an unfair transaction with a hotel owner.

The officer gave the hotel owner his welfare cheque and in exchange
received half the cash value of the cheque but no room.

Kiwan Lim, who owns the Marr Hotel, said that by targeting business,
police aren't solving anything but are moving away from the real problem.

"This area has so many junkies and drug dealers and day by day, every
day, they're getting more and more," said Lim.

"The tenants [in the hotel] getting worse and worse, but when they
make trouble here, I call police and they never come. They come in
here and search, but the junkie and dealers won't go away. They're all
over."

Lim said he was enraged that police raided the Marr pub Wednesday.
Their search warrant only indicated the hotel, he said, adding he's
confident his business won't be shut down.

"If these bad things happen here, why don't they arrest me yesterday?
They search five hours and they can't find anything," he said.

"I never allow the junkies and dealers to come into the pub. This pub
just full of poor people."

Police have not released the names of the other establishments they
investigated.

They said that while they are currently focusing on the licensing
issue, they will also be compiling the evidence they've gathered into
reports to be presented to federal, provincial and municipal agencies
on immigration, revenue, liquor control, employment standards and
legal services.

"The results will take time, so this is a slow process," said Frail.