POLICE CO-ORDINATE GANG, DRUG UNITS

But admit real fight is to stop allure of dangerous drugs

EDMONTON - The war on drugs must be fought on all fronts simultaneously, the
city's deputy police chief said Friday.

It must involved police on the streets and police and staff in city schools,
Mike Bradshaw said.

Police must forge alliances with health officials and community and
immigrant groups. The battle must include everyone from the disenfranchised
to ordinary families.

Bradshaw's declaration followed a call to war by Mayor Bill Smith on
Thursday. Smith's impassioned plea was prompted by the shooting death of
17-year-old Richard Prasad on Wednesday, a murder police say resulted from a
drug deal gone bad.

Since drug crimes and gang killings are usually linked, the Edmonton Police
Service will now place its gang units and drug units under the control of
the co-ordinated crime section.

"In excess of 90 per cent of what we deal with involves drugs," said Sgt.
Warren Ottenbreit, acting head of the gang unit.

But police action is only half the battle, Bradshaw said.

As long as there is a market for drugs and people who see the trade as a
path to money and respect, young people will get into the business.

The war must also be a fight for hearts and minds.

The oft-criticized multibillion-dollar American war on drugs has shown that
enforcement and interdiction by themselves won't end the flow of drugs,
Bradshaw said.

Young people must be convinced that involvement in the trade will bring them
nothing but grief.

"This effort must include families -- mothers, brothers and sisters. We hope
parents will come forward and tell us they need help," Bradshaw said during
a press conference at the downtown police station.

Tackling Edmonton's gang and drug problems on the social front and on the
law enforcement front won't be cheap and won't be easy, Bradshaw said.

"As much money must go into suppression as into enforcement. There is no
quick fix."

Fourteen fatal drug-related shootings since 2002 have given many the idea
the drug problem is spinning out of control, but Edmonton is probably no
worse than any other Canadian city, according to Statistics Canada.

"Comparatively, Alberta has a lower rate of drug offences per capita than
Canada as a whole," said Art Dyer, program research manager with the Alberta
Alcohol and Drug Abuse Commission.

It's virtually impossible to determine if drug use is on the rise nationally
or even regionally, however. Drug seizures have increased 15 to 20 per cent
in recent years, but those seizures may simply indicate more police activity
rather than more drug trade.

"That's not a clean statistic," Richard Vieux said.

The picture may be further blurred by an increasing tolerance for some soft
drugs, such as marijuana. Where police once arrested and charged people
caught with a single joint, those individuals now get off with a warning or
a small fine, Bradshaw said. If that one joint contains hydroponic
marijuana, the people who sold the marijuana are invariably involved with
organized crime.

"That single joint is encouraging organized crime," Bradshaw said.

"When those dealers get into conflict, that's when we get the homicides.
That dime bag is fuelling something greater."

New drugs are now increasing profits as well as turf wars and the potential
for violence. The most dangerous of these are crack cocaine and
methamphetamine, a form of speed that can be cooked up in a kitchen
laboratory. Both are highly addictive. Both make people prone to violence.

"Ninety-two per cent of people who commit armed robberies and go to jail
have addictions to crystal meth or cocaine," Bradshaw said.

Neither Bradshaw nor Ottenbreit are willing to surrender or compromise in
Edmonton's war on drugs.

"It will take a lot of determination on our part, a lot of willpower and a
lot of techniques to win this battle,"

Ottenbreit said. "We will win this battle by starting at the bottom and
working up, but it won't happen overnight."