POLICE SEEK FUNDS TO SUPPORT CRACKDOWN

Downtown Eastside - Council Will Be Asked For $1.19 Million More To
Continue Program To The End Of Year

Vancouver Police will ask city council for $1.19 million to continue their
controversial Downtown Eastside drug crackdown until the end of the year.

Inspector Doug LePard says evidence presented in a report going to
councillors next week will show positive results from the initiative that
started April 7. It put 40 extra police officers into the area to break up
the open drug market.

"We think we've made a significant impact on disorder and violence, along
with improved perceptions of safety," said LePard.

But health researchers who recently met with police say they're concerned
that the effort to clean out the Hastings Street drug market may be causing
more harm than good, that there hasn't been an evidence-based evaluation,
and that the money police want might be better spent on addiction treatment.

In a letter sent to councillors this week, researchers at the B.C. Centre
for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, whose studies of Vancouver's drug-using
population and their HIV risks are internationally known, say their
observations have been that "the extent of the public order gains in the
Downtown Eastside may have been overstated and that the extent of the
displacement to other neighbourhoods may have been substantially understated."

Evan Wood, one of the team members, said researchers are also concerned
because a recent study the group has completed shows that putting people in
jail increases the likelihood they will share needles and become infected
with HIV. Besides the personal tragedy that causes, each HIV case costs the
medical system -- and taxpayers -- about $150,000, he said.

The police crackdown has significantly increased the number of arrests in
the Downtown Eastside, which police say are arrests of non-addicted
traffickers but which researchers say include a lot of low-level users who
do some dealing to support their habits.

The letter, signed by Martin Schechter, along with Wood and Patricia
Spittal, says that health researchers can only support the crackdown if it
is based on evidence, rather than opinions or public popularity, and if
there is a net benefit when all factors are considered.

LePard said that while he respects their work, the health of addicts isn't
the only factor police have to consider.

"It's a balancing of interests that have to be weighed."

He also said there are plans for a comprehensive evaluation of all impacts
of the crackdown, which will produce better information if the police
initiative continues. The $1.19 million police are asking for will cover
the cost of 20 officers for the six months from July to the end of the
year. The police department will absorb the cost of the other 20 extra
officers it puts in the area on top of the 20 normally assigned there.

Vancouver Agreement co-ordinator Isobel Donovan said a request for
proposals will be going out in July for an independent third party to look
at all kinds of impacts the police crackdown has had, from number of
arrests, to quality of life for people living in the Downtown Eastside, to
changes in the level of violence.

The Vancouver Agreement is a commitment by the federal government, the
province, and the city to work together to support sustainable economic,
social and community development in Vancouver.

The police crackdown has generated a lot of public attention and debate
since it started. Business groups and Downtown Eastside residents are
enthusiastic about what they feel is a new sense of order in the
neighbourhood compared to the anarchy and menacing mood of the street when
crowds of dealers and users took over the sidewalks.

But people in other parts of the city, particularly the central downtown,
who believe that the crackdown has moved dealers and prostitution into
their neighbourhoods, are more critical.