POLICE WITHDRAW BID FOR CRACKDOWN FUNDS

More Evidence Needed On Effectiveness Of Downtown Eastside Project, Mayor Says

Vancouver police were forced Tuesday to withdraw a request for $1.1 million
to continue a drug crackdown in the Downtown Eastside after Mayor Larry
Campbell convinced the police board the police department's evaluation of
the project's success wasn't adequate.

Campbell said the board members agreed no decision about giving police
additional money to continue the special project should be made until an
independent evaluation of all the crackdown's effects is finished in November.

But for the time being, the city's move will have no effect on police
patrols in the Downtown Eastside since funding is already in place to pay
for them through September.

Since the city-wide enforcement first began in April, Chief Jamie Graham
has insisted police will not abandon the Downtown Eastside.

The police department will now begin an internal analysis to determine
where to find funds to maintain staffing levels area from September untill
the end of the year.

Campbell said he told police board members in telephone calls before
Tuesday's meeting that his council wasn't likely to support the request.

Constable Sarah Bloor, media representative for Vancouver police, said the
department is disappointed by the city's move.

But Campbell said the department's evaluation of whether the crackdown had
worked, which included a poll, crime statistics for the first two months,
and interviews with Downtown Eastside groups, didn't meet council's
expectations.

The issue prompted a debate at city council Tuesday, where opposition
Councillor Peter Ladner accused Campbell of giving police a slap in the face.

"I resent the insinuation that we are backhanding the police," Campbell
said, reminding everyone that he is a former police officer who still has
many friends on the force.

Campbell said the main issue was that the police evaluation was too narrow.

"The report you have before you deals with the Downtown Eastside almost
exclusively," Campbell said when he was challenged by Ladner on the issue.
"We know there have been impacts in other neighbourhoods."

There had been indications before Tuesday that the Coalition of Progressive
Electors council was uncomfortable about putting any more money into the
police effort. Although the move has generated considerable public praise,
many said there were troubling aspects to the way it was being done and
whether this was the best use of money in tackling the city's significant
drug-addiction problem.

"We have heard from across the city that [the project] has spread the
problem," Councillor Ray Louie said last week. "And I'm in support of
public safety, but we have to balance our books. A lot of this is done on
overtime -- I disagree with that."

Councillor Anne Roberts' concern was how to allocate scarce resources when
the city is trying to tackle drug abuse not just with enforcement, but also
with treatment, prevention and health services for addicts -- the so-called
four-pillars approach.

Police board member Lynne Kennedy, a former city councillor, said the
police action has been popular and she hopes it continues, for the sake of
people in the Downtown Eastside.

"I don't think it would be fair to just abandon them again."

The police report included a Pollara survey conducted between June 6-10 for
the police, which cost $20,000. It found 70 per cent of the 700 people
surveyed approved of the increased enforcement in the Downtown Eastside.

That survey, police believe, is the independent evaluation council wanted,
"but city council has a different opinion," Bloor said.

Pivot Legal Society executive director John Richardson said the increased
enforcement proceeded without consultation with the community or with other
agencies.

"They shouldn't have proceeded with the other three pillars being in
place," Richardson said Tuesday. "The four pillars is supposed to be a
comprehensive strategy and the police just went ahead."

Earlier this week, the society won a victory over the department when the
independent police complaint commission asked the RCMP to launch an
investigation after the group forwarded affidavits by people in the
Downtown Eastside alleging abuse by police officers.