POLICE TAKE AIM AT VIOLENT CRIME

Annual Report

Vancouver police are looking to cut violent crime rates, according to
their annual report released today.

In his written statement in the three-page newspaper insert, Vancouver
police chief Jamie Graham stressed the need to cut into the rising
number of assault and drug offenses.

"Violent crime is a concern for us," confirmed VPD spokesman Const.
Howard Chow. "It went up in 2005 and it's something we will be
addressing."

From 2004 to 2005, assaults went up 5.8 per cent and sexual offences
went up 3.3 per cent.

Drug offenses shot up 3.4 per cent, with heroin-related offences
increasing by 15 per cent.

Through a series of advertisements and media reports, the VPD said the
public-awareness campaign managed to cut property crime by 20 per cent
and triple membership in Block Watch programs.

"For the first few months it had a huge impact in property crime
rates," said Chow, who added other police agencies are now working on
similar programs. "We did a study and property crime was the biggest
crime concern for people in Vancouver, so we went after it with an
aggressive campaign."

Chow said the VPD is looking into similar-style programs for other
crimes.