ORGANIZED CRIME TOLL PROMPTS ALBERTA PLAN FOR SPECIAL POLICE UNIT

Province Doubling Existing Budget

EDMONTON - The Alberta government will announce today it is setting up
a new provincial police unit to combat the growing influence of
organized crime.

"Not only is the volume of organized crime on the rise, but the
complexity and sophistication of the crimes are also increasing,"
Solicitor General Heather Forsyth said Wednesday.

Crime has fallen in Alberta in recent years but organized crime,
including bloody public street shootings between rival gangs settling
scores and marking territory, has grown.

Alberta police forces believe the street gangs involved in public
violence are mostly extensions of larger crime groups.

They are worried the province's approximately 25 organized crime
groups are expanding beyond drug trafficking to running most of the
methamphetamine labs and marijuana-growing operations.

The gangs are adding money laundering, murder for hire, extortion,
immigrant smuggling, credit-card theft, illegal gambling, telephone
and Internet fraud and even stock-market manipulation to their illegal
activities.

Organized crime is spreading beyond Edmonton and Calgary to Red Deer,
Fort McMurray, Grande Prairie, Lethbridge, Medicine Hat and smaller
communities. Many break-ins, bank robberies and car thefts are
committed by drug users desperate to feed their habit. There is also a
social impact.

Under the plan to be announced today in Calgary, the province will
more than double the $2.4 million it spends each year to combat
organized crime and street gangs, sources say.

In comparison, the Edmonton police department's budget is about $170
million.

Planning for the new police unit was accelerated after a May 5 meeting
Forsyth had with senior police officials, including Edmonton police
Chief Bob Wasylyshen.

Further details about the unit and its budget will be revealed today
by Forsyth and police representatives. The new unit will apparently
complement rather than replace existing police department branches
that investigate organized crime and gangs.

The province already spends $2.4 million a year to fund the Criminal
Intelligence Service of Alberta. Established in 1999, it collects,
analyses and distributes criminal intelligence to Alberta police
forces and assesses threat from organized crime. It is credited with
significantly improving information sharing between police agencies
and supporting numerous major joint operations and investigations
other forces.

The new initiative was developed with input from Wasylyshen, Calgary
police Chief Jack Beaton, RCMP Assistant Commissioner Bill Sweeney and
Camrose police Chief Marshall Chalmers, who is also president of the
Alberta Association of Chiefs of Police.

Long-term funding of the provincewide unit will be determined in the
future, sources said.