DRUG TRADE HAS NO BOUNDARIES

St. Albert city council is pumping $354,479 into a three-person drug squad
to combat a growing drug problem among youth.

It's discouraging news for the affluent suburban city that the drug trade
is moving in. It's also a development that should make civic leaders in the
metro area stop and think.

Is more integrated policing necessary to outsmart this sophisticated nasty
business?

Maybe it's time to have closer look at some sort of regional cooperation.

If there's any problem all communities would like to beat back, it's the
very ugly drug trade. And clearly it does not respect municipal boundaries.

A methamphetamine factory operating in St. Albert is producing for Edmonton
just as St. Albert kids are runners for Edmonton pushers.

And as St. Albert RCMP noted, if enforcement is lax in one place, the
criminals will migrate there.

"We're part of the metro centre with Sherwood Park and Edmonton, said St.
Albert Mayor Richard Plain, noting that these two centres already have drug
squads.

Edmonton city police and neighbouring RCMP share information on the drug trade.

And two years ago, the Edmonton police also set up the Green Team which
will bring several neighbouring RCMP forces together on major drug raids.

The team conducted about 60 joint raids in the Edmonton area last
years.That's progress.

All metro police forces will be glad to have the assistance of three more
drug officers on the scene. But what could be gained by more formal links
in the fight?

Discussion of regional policing always invokes all those regional
sensitivities about big bad Edmonton and the small cities.

Let's put those aside and just have a look at how far regional cooperation
could assist in this battle.