GETTING BAD GUYS

You know it's an unusual week when you start reading words like "FBI",
"Royal Thai Police", and "laundering millions of dollars" in a Gazette
story.

To what extent, if any, Grand Forks resident Liam Thanh Nguy is involved in
the alleged heroin trafficking is not yet known.The best news we do have,
however, is that no heroin was seized in Grand Forks.

While we offer kudos to the forces in Vancouver and Victoria who led this
massive international investigation - one that may net some real kingpins -
we don't want to lose sight of the smaller, but serious, problems we
experience locally.

It's great that the police are keeping the heroin traffickers off our
streets. That having been said, though, we're pretty sure if you asked Grand
Forks residents today what kind of arrests they'd like to see more of, it
wouldn't be heroin busts or even pot busts.

The culprits we want to see caught are those responsible for so-called
"petty" crimes - vandalism and small-time break-ins.

There's no reason we should have to worry as we sleep at night whether our
cars will be hot wired, our mail stolen or our children's playgrounds
destroyed.

To the people of Grand Forks, these are the problems we face every day. The
situation has gone out of control, out of proportion for a community our
size, and needs to be resolved soon.