TROUBLE BREWS IN CLEARBROOK

A group of Clearbrook Road area residents and business owners are
asking for the police to permanently assign officers to patrol the
troubled neighbourhood.

The area, residents told the police board on Tuesday, is plagued by
prostitution, flop houses, open drug trafficking and unregulated
recovery houses.

"Children have been accosted on their way to school," the residents
wrote in a submission to the board.

"The last year has just been a nightmare for the residents," said
resident Lilly Kaetler.

She notes property crime has escalated and break and enters are
taking place in empty grow-op houses.

"There's continuous activity between the drug houses," she said.

Terry Dawes, owner of the ABC restaurant, also pointed out that 12 to
14-year-olds are being asked if they're prostituting themselves.

"That scares me," he said.

Problems in the area have fluctuated in the 21 years he has been in
the area, Dawes said, but "last summer was the worst we put in."

Speakers at Tuesday's police board meeting say recent stepped up
enforcement in the area by police has had a positive impact, but
worry the problems will come back if enforcement is reduced.

"We worry that as enforcement starts to tail off, that activity will
return," said Jonathan Chapman, manager of Woodlawn Funeral Home. "We
want to encourage you as a board to allocate permanent resources to
the Clearbrook area."

Residents are asking for a permanent bike team, similar to what has
been in place in the downtown core for several years.

As well, Clearbrook station owner Balbir Raiwal offered free space
for police if they wanted to put a small community police station in the area.

He said the crime situation in Clearbrook is "no longer acceptable"
and is frustrated that nothing seems to be done to address the issues.

The police board made no promises of permanent resources on Tuesday,
but chairman George Ferguson said the board will work with Police
Chief Ian Mackenzie "to see if we can get that sorted out."

He again highlighted his efforts to get the provincial government to
enact legislation similar to that used in Saskatchewan that would
allow the cars of johns -- the customers of prostitutes -- to be seized.

He also noted the City of Abbotsford is trying to get recovery houses
regulated, and noted that "a lot of them are not recovery houses,
they're drug houses."

"We're going to have to look at all the legislation that's
available," said Ferguson, who notes Clearbrook is not the only area
facing crime issues.

"We're going to have to take the city back from the crime," he said.
"It's going to take a total effort of the community."