CRACK DOWN ON CRIME KINGPINS

Former premier is right to call for change in police priorities -- and
tougher sentencing

Former B.C. premier Mike Harcourt has expressed pretty bluntly what a lot of
people in this province feel has to be done to combat organized crime,
including drug trafficking.

Speaking to the annual Canadian Congress on Criminal Justice in Vancouver,
Harcourt said police should be rounding up the "kingpins" of organized crime
instead of drug addicts, and the courts should be putting them behind bars
for a good long time.

He said that as a former criminal defence lawyer and chairman of the
Vancouver Police Board when he was mayor, he's convinced police need more
resources to apprehend up to 400 "big crooks" who are operating in Vancouver
- -- as members of the Hells Angels, Russian and Vietnamese gangs, the Mafia
and drug rings.

"Get them thrown in jail," Harcourt demanded. "I don't care if you need to
build three new prisons on Baffin Island or put them in a high-unemployment
part of the province." He also said their assets should be seized, their
businesses closed, and they should be treated "like the scumbags they are."

Maybe the former premier has watched The Untouchables too many times, but
the way criminal gangs seem to be growing -- including those who have
reappeared roaming the streets in Victoria -- tends to bring out the Eliot
Ness in all of us.

In Vancouver, businesses are operating as fronts for drug dealers and money
launderers. One pizza outlet was shut down after police found the owner had
used trained shoplifters to steal mozzarella cheese for his pizzas from a
local Safeway store.

The reaction to Harcourt's call to arms, however, has been pretty
predictable. Solicitor General Rich Coleman says the provincial justice
system is properly balanced to deal with criminal kingpins, and small-time
street criminals and addicts. He blames the federal government for not
giving law-enforcement authorities enough tools to deal with organized crime
- -- specifically, for not prescribing stiffer penalties and changes in
legislation to track the proceeds of crime through the tax system.

Police, in their turn, blame the courts for not imposing stiffer sentences
on crime leaders. All they can do, they say, is pursue the laying of charges
and confiscate property where they can.

The seemingly casual approach of the courts to sentencing -- for everything
from drag racing to drugs -- is apparent to everyone. Residents of our
cities and towns are often surprised to learn how quickly criminals who have
been sentenced to several years behind bars are back among them.

Here in Victoria, Police Chief Paul Battershill called a news conference
just last month to warn us that gang members who had been sentenced for
their part in assaults are back on our streets again. We have nothing like
the problems of Vancouver -- or Edmonton, or Winnipeg -- yet. But we, too,
are affected when prison doors swing open too early.

As Harcourt said Thursday, the justice system must ensure "life means life"
and that 25-year "life" sentences are served. We're not impressed about the
"good behaviour" excuse for early parole for people whose bad behaviour put
them behind bars in the first place.