TEMPORARY POLICING WILL SOLVE CRISIS, AMERICAN SAYS

Vancouver doesn't need a permanent increase in street policing to restore
order to the Downtown Eastside, U.S. criminologist James Wilson said Friday.

Wilson said a few months of bolstered police presence should do the job,
although more bursts of heavy law enforcement could be needed later if drug
dealers return to the neighbourhood.

The co-originator of the "Broken Windows" approach to policing, which New
York used to clear Times Square in the 1980s, Wilson spoke approvingly of
Vancouver police efforts to root drug dealers out of the Downtown Eastside.

However, he sharply attacked some of the other elements of Vancouver's Four
Pillars program, especially safe injection sites, which he termed "free
shooting galleries."

Wilson called for "coercive" rather than voluntary drug treatment programs
for convicted abusers and mandatory drug testing for those who are free on
probation or parole.

Broken Windows policing involves flooding decaying, drug-riddled
neighbourhoods with police prosecuting offenders for minor offences to
convince the community "the good guys" are in charge.

Wilson was brought to Vancouver by the Fraser Institute to lecture on Broken
Windows. He also met with The Vancouver Sun's editorial board Friday.

New York City hired 6,000 additional police officers in the early 1990s,
while Vancouver has pulled about 40 officers from other areas to patrol the
Downtown Eastside. Because of budget constraints, the program will be
reviewed after three months.

Wilson told The Sun it was a mistake for Vancouver police to reveal "that
this is a three-month presence, because drug dealers now know that."

He said the extra police should be deployed "long enough for all the people
who want to deal drugs in public places to realize the police are there."

U.S. cities with similar programs have found that the dealers eventually
return to cleaned-up neighbourhoods, he said, but that can be handled by
boosting enforcement again as needed.

Wilson said he is morally opposed to harm-reduction programs for drug users
such as needle exchanges and safe-injection sites, arguing there is no
evidence of their benefits.

"For the government to encourage people to remain addicted by supplying them
with clean needles so they can continue their habits is profoundly wrong,"
he said in his speech, drawing loud applause from an audience of about 200.