DRUG ARRESTS UP IN VANCOUVER

Police Department's Annual Report For 2005 Reveals
City's Numbers Defy National Trend

VANCOUVER - Bucking the national trend, Vancouver police made more
arrests for drug offences last year than in 2004.

The upswing in drug arrests was mostly the result of a concentrated
effort in the city's Downtown Eastside neighbourhood. Police launched
the initiative in an attempt to reduce the notorious open-air illegal
drug market, where dealers sell drugs on the street within blocks of a
police station.

"We still have an open-air market and the social problems associated
with drugs continue to be there," Constable Howard Chow of the
Vancouver Police Department said yesterday.

"This is something we continue to work on, to try to come to the
assistance of addicts, while coming down hard on the dealers," he said.

New statistics to be distributed today show police made arrests for
390 heroin-related offences last year, up from 339 offences in 2004.
Police reported 1,823 cannabis-related offences last year, compared to
1,765 in 2004. Overall, drug offences in Vancouver climbed 3.4 per
cent.

Nationally, however, drug offences dropped for the second consecutive
year, headed by 12 per cent fewer criminal charges laid for cannabis
possession.

The Vancouver Police Department annual report for 2005, to be
distributed today, also shows that Vancouver residents are more likely
to be killed in a traffic accident than a murder.

Traffic collisions in the city led to 32 deaths last year, and this
year may be even worse. Seventeen people had been killed in traffic
accidents in Vancouver by the end of June of this year. By comparison,
19 people were murdered in the city the whole of last year.

"There [are] more and more cars on the road, everyone is rushing to
somewhere," Constable Chow said. "People are getting killed because of
that."

In an attempt to reverse the trend, police have been part of a
crackdown this summer on speeders and aggressive drivers throughout
the Greater Vancouver region. The campaign is a joint effort of police
in the area, the Insurance Corporation of B.C., and more than 30
volunteer groups that monitor traffic on high-volume streets.

Police have issued 12,000 tickets since the start of last month,
Inspector Andy Hobbs of the traffic section announced last week.

The report also indicates that Vancouver property crime dropped last
year, but violence in the city increased.

An aggressive initiative to cut theft, fraud and break-ins led to a
10-per-cent drop in property crimes, Constable Chow said. The police
and ICBC ran a series of public-service announcements with suggestions
on how to protect yourself against robberies.

However, assaults increased last year to 5,411 incidents, compared to
5,116 in 2004. Police report 535 sexual offences last year, compared
to 518 in 2004. Assaults are "a serious problem that continues to
worsen," Vancouver Police Chief Jamie Graham said in the report.

For the second consecutive year, the police department spent $20,000
on publishing its annual report as an advertisement in a local
newspaper, despite critics who say the police should not be using its
budget for what they say is image polishing. The document, which
includes several positive reports about police work besides the
statistical data, is also available on the department's website
(http://www.city.vancouver.bc.ca/police) and at the police station.

Constable Chow said the police department has no apologies for
spending the money on advertising. "We have to put out an annual
report . . . we want it to be read," he said.

An additional $500 was spent on photography for the
advertisement.

The police are also drawing attention to their report with a
high-profile event during morning rush hour today. After losing a
competition in an emergency service blood-donor challenge, fire
department Chief Ray Holdgate will be handing out the report on the
street.