POLICE 'WON'T GIVE UP' GAINS ON EASTSIDE

Hecklers scream abuse at chief Jamie Graham at a community meeting Friday

Vancouver police say they're not going to give back the territory they've
gained in the Downtown Eastside, so they will maintain a special force there
for at least another year, even without extra money from the city.

"We've made one commitment: We're not going to go away. We've made a
difference in the community," Chief Jamie Graham told a packed and
occasionally raucous community meeting Friday at the Carnegie Centre.

Graham, who had asked for a meeting where he could talk to people in the
neighbourhood about policing, was heckled, screamed at, and repeatedly
called a liar mainly by young people affiliated with the Anti-Poverty
Coalition, various tent camps and the squeegee community.

Several of them surrounded him when he was leaving, prompting about half a
dozen officers present to rush him out of the building and down the street.

Besides accusing Graham of covering up in the missing women case and being
responsible for the Guns N' Roses concert fiasco and much more, many of his
critics also said his officers are simply going after poor people for doing
things they have no choice but to do in an era of provincial cutbacks, like
washing car windows, panhandling, or selling things on the street.

But he was also grilled by others during the intense two-hour session.

Philip Sagutch was one of two native men who complained about being beaten
without provocation by the police.

Marilyn Young was one of several people who complained about police shutting
down the city's unlicensed injection site for drug users this week.

"This seems to be like a private fight between the police and the people who
live down here. I just don't understand," said Young, who frequently attends
council and community meetings.

John Richardson, the activist lawyer from the PIVOT Society, questioned
police about which community they're really protecting.

"A third of the 15,000 people in the Downtown Eastside are drug-addicted.
How are your police serving the 5,000 people who are marginalized," he
asked.

But Graham and Deputy-Chief Bob Rich, who also attended, received praise
from a few for what they've done.

Deborah Mannette, a former drug user, said she feels she can walk down the
street in safety now.

Kim Lai Wah also said he and everyone he talks to is supportive of the
police crackdown.

But even those who were supportive had questions about the underlying causes
of the Downtown Eastside's problems.

Wah, speaking through a translator, said he thought part of the problem was
that other levels of government are cutting so many services.

That means people "have to go into the streets and cause trouble," he said.

That was something 87-year-old Robert Reeds brought up, too, saying that
while he thought Graham was a great chief, all he was really doing was
chasing a problem created in Victoria.

Graham maintained throughout the meeting that his officers are required to
charge people who break the law and that he rejects any suggestion there is
a general problem among them with excessive force or harassment.

In fact, he said, "the citizens of this community are spoiled in the kind of
policing they get."

He also reminded people that Vancouver Police is the only force in North
America that has worked with a community to support an injection site for
drug users.

After the meeting Rich said the special force that will remain in the
Downtown Eastside for the next year will consist of 48 officers who have
made the choice to work in the area. Some were beat cops who've been there
for years and want to stay, while others are newcomers who were posted there
when police started their crackdown April 7.

"There were some who were conscripted who fell in love with it," he said.
The new team will have 12 fewer officers than the neighbourhood has had for
the past six months.

Rich said that ideally police would like to create a separate police
district for the area with about 100 officers, but he's shelving that idea
until next fall.

Many in the Downtown Eastside have said that if police are going to devote a
special effort to the area, then there should be a dedicated police force
made up of officers who understand the dynamics of the neighbourhood and its
people.

Rich said that even though maintaining the special force will put a severe
strain on the department's resources, it's worth it.

"We're not willing to give up the ground we've gained."