CROSS DEFENDS CITY 'RED ZONE'

Banning Convicted Drug Dealers From A Section Of Downtown Reduces Crime,
Mayor Testifies In B.C. Supreme Court Case.

Banning drug dealers from downtown - with a court-proclaimed "Red Zone" -
helps keep Victoria streets safe and hospitable, Mayor Bob Cross testified
in B.C. Supreme Court Monday.

Cross said the Red Zone's main purpose is to kick drug trafficking out of
downtown, where residents and tourists have been complaining about it ever
since he became Victoria mayor.

"The most visible crime is drug trafficking that can be seen by day or by
night," he testified in front of Justice Thomas Gove.

The Red Zone, as it's normally known to police and court officials, is the
downtown area rimmed, approximately, by Fisguard and Belleville streets and
the waterfront and Blanshard.

In Victoria, it has become a common condition of bail and probation in cases
of drug trafficking to forbid people from entering this downtown area.

Cross was called as a witness in a constitutional question on the use of a
Red Zone condition in the sentence of a drug trafficker.

Mike Reid 21, pleaded guilty to trafficking marijuana and in February was
sentenced to 30 days in jail and probation for one year. One of the
probation conditions was staying out of the Red Zone.

Reid's lawyer, Robert Moore-Stewart, said outside the court his client takes
no issue with the sentence, save for the Red Zone condition. The condition
is a violation of his constitutional rights, including the freedom of
association.

While cross-examining Cross, Moore-Stewart referred to police statistics
which show drug trafficking in the Red Zone practically doubling, from 44
incident(sic) in 1994 to 87 in 1998.

But at the same time, charges in the Red Zone, as a percentage of the total
number of drug trafficking charges in Victoria, remained constant: 65 per
cent in 1994 and 66 per cent in 1998.

Moore-Stewart asked Cross if he felt the statistics supported the view that
the Red Zone was an efficient way to keep downtown free of drug traffickers.

Cross said he couldn't answer that. All he could offer was that downtown
drug trafficking might be worse without the Red Zone.

He said that since he has been in power, the city and its police force have
made a consistent effort to make life tough for drug traffickers in the
downtown.

And Cross said there have been some success. He doesn't believe the Red Zone
has shifted drug activity to outlying boroughs because drug traffickers like
to be around lots of people,

"I don't think it would flourish in the boroughs," he said.