PROPERTY CRIME RATE WORST AFTER MIAMI

Greater Vancouver Has Second-Highest Property Crime Rate In North
America

Saying Greater Vancouver's property-crime rate is second only to Greater
Miami's, the Vancouver Board of Trade is urging the province to redirect
its surtax on property insurance into programs to battle the problem.

That would amount to $40 million that now goes into the province's general
revenues, the board said.

The board made the proposal after a year-long study that tracked numbers
and the cost of the city's problem.

It found that throughout North America, Greater Vancouver was second only
to Greater Miami in its rate of property crimes, which include break and
enters, auto thefts, shoplifting and vandalism.

In Greater Vancouver, there were more than 7,000 reports of property crime
per 100,000 residents. In the Greater Miami area, there were 12,000 per
100,000 residents.

The board said the province should redirect its four-per-cent surtax on
insurance premiums -- which now goes into general revenue -- into funding
more programs to fight property crime.

Property crime in Vancouver costs businesses, individuals, governments and
insurance organizations more than $128 million each year, it said.

"It's unacceptable, very alarming, and we believe the public is not aware
of how serious this problem really is," said Darcy Rezac, managing director
of the board. "There is little deterrent and it's basically open season on
victims in Vancouver."

Rezac said property crimes have soared because of too few police officers,
inadequate funding for treatment of drug addicts and weak court sentences.

In 2002, there were 42,497 reported incidents of property crimes affecting
homeowners and businesses. That includes break and enters, auto thefts,
shoplifting and vandalism.

City-wide, there were 19,000 auto thefts, almost double the number from
1996, when there were 10,249 cases of auto thefts throughout the whole city.

The high number of property crimes in 1996-97 prompted former Vancouver
police chief Bruce Chambers to launch a crackdown aimed at cutting property
crime by as much as 69 per cent within three years.

Chambers, who left his position before he could follow out his plan, made
some changes, but property crime is again increasing, said Rezac.

The board wants the city to adopt the same zero-tolerance practices adopted
by former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani, which involved tackling the smaller
crimes to discourage bigger ones.

The major problem in Vancouver now, Rezac said Sunday, is an atmosphere of
tolerance.

"In New York, they began cleaning up graffiti and not tolerating squeegee
people. All those infractions of the law creates an atmosphere of an
absence of the respect for the rule of law," he said.

The board said the four-per-cent surtax on property insurance premiums, if
redirected, could go toward funding more treatment centres for drug
addicts, increasing the number of police officers to respond to
break-and-enter calls and expanding recovery of stolen goods from pawn
shops and flea markets.

"There is a price to pay for not addressing the problem now," said Dave
Park, the board's chief economist. "It's far cheaper to have people in
prison, and far cheaper than that to have them in treatment centres."

The similarities between the high property-crime problems in Miami and
Vancouver stem from the same source: drugs, according to Park.

"Miami is a gateway to Latin American where a lot of drugs come from and
Vancouver is also a gateway and a destination spot for drug addicts," he said.

Councillor Sam Sullivan said reducing property crime means reducing the
number of drug addicts in Vancouver.

"Our best hope for overcoming this problem is to deliver a strong message
to the public who is concerned about public disorder," Sullivan said.

"We need to have strong enforcement and do what we can for treatment; we
also have to be realistic about the problem. It's not a medical problem,
but a disability problem."

LOCK YOUR DOORS

Property crime rates by major metropolitan area, according to a 2002
Statistics Canada report.

City Property crime rate per 100,000 population

Vancouver: 7,067

Winnipeg: 5,673

Edmonton: 5,402

Halifax: 4,569

Calgary: 4,368

Montreal: 3,958

Hamilton: 3,827

Ottawa: 3,546

Quebec: 2,979

Toronto: 2,949