DEPUTY POLICE CHIEF INCENSED

Vancouver's deputy police chief said Thursday he's "incensed" after a
court granted bail this week to a 35-year-old man charged with robbing
three banks while on probation and who allegedly knocked off two
stores and another bank less than an hour after his release.

Brian McGuinness told reporters Thursday police officers are becoming
increasingly frustrated after dealing with two cases this week that
highlight the so-called "revolving door" nature of the criminal
justice system.

On Tuesday, police announced the arrest of a 26-year-old man who had
been convicted 94 times in the past 13 years and had never been
sentenced to more than six months in jail. Jason Colin Acoose was
arrested for allegedly breaking into a vehicle.

Police spokesman Detective Constable Richard Akin called the accused
one of "the four-per-centers" -- the tiny fraction of the criminal
culture that commits the majority of crimes.

McGuinness said Thursday: "We feel as police officers that it's more
than just the thin blue line that should be caring about the community
out there. The justice system should be caring about the community as
well."

McGuinness did not name the suspect in the latest incident, but he was
identified through court records as Charles Norman Langlois.

Arrested last weekend, he appeared in court Wednesday charged with
robbing three banks located at 88 East Pender, 418 Main Street and
2501 Commercial Drive. Police say the robberies were committed while
Langlois was on probation for two other robbery convictions last fall.

McGuinness said the Crown outlined the suspect's extensive criminal
record, but the provincial court judge released him on bail just
before 2 p.m. Wednesday.

Within 57 minutes, police allege, the suspect had robbed two stores
and a bank on the city's Downtown Eastside before being apprehended by
Chinatown security guards. Police say the suspect was not armed during
the robberies, but they allege he used a note claiming he had a weapon.

Richard Isaac, a spokesman for the Crown, said counsel sought to have
Langlois kept in custody. "[But] The court made an order releasing him
on various conditions."

Isaac said the Crown did not yet have a report on the latest incidents
described by McGuinness. "I presume we'll be getting information
shortly from the police, and I think it's fair to say that, having
sought his detention yesterday, we will do everything appropriate to
protect the public."

Provincial court Chief Judge Robert Metzger could not be reached for
comment Thursday.

McGuinness, who made a rare appearance at the morning press briefing
at police headquarters Thursday, said the courts need to place more
emphasis on the trauma experienced by the victims of robberies.

"This goes far beyond a matter of money being stolen from a financial
institution," he said. "The greatest impact is on the staff.

"It not only affects the tellers that have to deal directly with the
suspect that's holding up the bank. But it's with the rest of them
that have to deal with that on an ongoing basis -- wondering, are they
next?"

While Vancouver police haven't kept detailed statistics on the
"four-per-centers" trend, criminologists agree it exists.

Simon Fraser University professor Paul Brantingham notes that,
depending on the city, anywhere from five to 10 per cent of those who
are ever convicted of a crime commit more than half of all offences.
"There's a huge population who commit one crime in their life and get
it out of their system," Brantingham said. "And there's another group
that commits crime whenever they're loose -- over and over again."

But while police, experts and Crown prosecutors agree the problem
exists, there is significantly less agreement on how it can be solved.
The immediate solution proposed by police -- sending a message with
longer sentences -- won't work, according to some experts. They say
those committing serial petty offences have lives so chaotic and
desperate they won't be able to receive whatever message police are
trying to send.

The four-per-centers are the model of disorganized crime -- drug
addicts or people with mental problems, with a long record of petty
thefts used to support their habit, a few violent offences linked to
drunken brawls and usually lacking the savvy or intelligence to
conceal their criminal behaviour.

"What the police are talking about is deterrence," said Wendy Stephen,
president of the Crown Counsel Association of B.C. and a prosecutor in
New Westminster. "But you can't cure them by sending them to jail for
their addiction. That's ridiculous. The problem isn't that they're
mean, nasty, horrible people who like breaking into cars. They've got
an addiction that they can't deal with by themselves."

The lack of drug treatment and mental health facilities in the
province means there is little chance of setting the four-per-centers
straight, Stephen said. And putting them in jail longer will only
warehouse the problem -- at more than $50,000 a year -- until they are
released.

"It just happens over and over again and judges say: 'Well what am I
supposed to do with this person? He's obviously not a criminal,' "
Stephen said. "And that's right -- here we are in the criminal justice
system and we're becoming social workers."

Canada used to have a habitual-offender law that permitted indefinite
jail terms for those who committed dozens of crimes, but the law was
scrapped several decades ago. So-called dangerous offenders -- those
who commit a series of rapes or murders -- can still be locked up
indefinitely, but there is no similar provision for those who commit a
series of property crimes.

More than 20 states in the U.S., including California and Washington,
have so-called "three strikes you're out" legislation, under which
someone convicted three times on felony charges receives a lengthy
sentence -- in some cases life imprisonment.

The measures have swelled prison populations and cost several billions
of dollars to construct new facilities to house all the new inmates.
It is estimated that in California alone, the state will have to spend
an additional $21 billion to build new prisons over the next two decades.

Akin, who has served on the Downtown Eastside himself, said police
support more drug treatment centres to deal with the underlying
problems that lead to crime -- but he thinks stiffer sentences are
needed in the meantime.

Akin said police are increasingly frustrated at the low sentences
being handed out.

"We're frustrated because our efforts are not being rewarded because
of a lack of resources down the road," he said.