NEW WEST'S ATTACK ON DRUGS WINS SUPPORT

Most New Westminster residents support tough police tactics to get rid of
accused drug dealers, say politicians, police and business leaders. But
lawyers and some human rights leaders say police are practising vigilante
justice.

Their comments came as a New Westminster judge handed out stiff sentences
Thursday to three crack cocaine dealers, saying the drug trafficking problem
"has reached epidemic proportions" in the downtown.

"Within the last six months, the frequency of illegal drug transactions in
New Westminster has reached a scale that has become a threat to the
community," said provincial court Judge Kim Husband.

The trio -- three refugee claimants in their early 20s from Honduras -- were
rounded up as part of a crackdown on dealers along Columbia Street.

But police are under fire from some lawyers and human rights activists for
their tactics, which include smashing suspects' heads against hard surfaces
to force them to spit out rocks of cocaine, which are often carried in
dealers' mouths.

In television footage of a recent police sweep, officers were videotaped
choking a suspect until he bled, entering a private home without a search
warrant, and sending people who hadn't been charged out of New Westminster
by cab.

But Netty Tam, executive director of the Downtown New Westminster Business
Improvement Society, said business owners support the officers and are
working with them to oust the dealers.

New Westminster Chamber of Commerce president Clive Bellian, who has watched
police arrest dealers, also believes officers are using necessary force.

"City council is totally in support of our police," city Councillor Bob
Osterman said. "We've had no complaints from residents."

But the B.C. Civil Liberties Association is considering laying a complaint
with the Police Complaints Commission, said policy director Murray Mollard.

He cited several concerns, including use of force, searching homes without
warrants, and shooing people away in cabs.

"Despite the large public support they seem to have, have the police
overstepped the line?" Mollard asked.

Immigration lawyer Phil Rankin sympathizes with public outrage over rampant
drug dealing, but warned against creating a "witch-hunt atmosphere" for
suspects.

"No one is saying in New Westminster: 'Police should be able to enter my
house without a warrant, they should be able to choke my son on the
street,'" said Rankin. "Those cops really are just vigilantes."

New Westminster police Chief Peter Young said he'll respond to any
complaints and "continue to look at better ways of doing things."

But Young said the department has had only one complaint from a resident,
versus about 150 calls of support.

He said choke holds are the only method officers can use to stop suspects
from swallowing the cocaine -- evidence needed for an arrest.

Young said his officers only entered a home without a warrant while looking
for young girls allegedly working for suspected dealers.

He denied officers have forced suspects into cabs.

Checked-by: Don Beck