DRUG PUSHERS NOT ALL MOMMIES' BOYS TRYING TO HELP BACK HOME

With all the positive coverage surrounding the recent police roundup of
drug dealers in Vancouver, it's a challenge to think of anything to say to
public and media beyond thank-you.

Yet, while most comments on the enforcement sweep were supportive, some
were misleading, and a few downright aggravating.

In referring to Honduran drug traffickers, it's silly to push the notion
they're all just boys who love their poverty-stricken moms so much they're
driven to sell crack.

Doubtless many help families back home, but sighting a cash transfer
receipt doesn't mean money was sent with noble intent.

It's no secret that funds sent out of country can't be touched under
proceeds-of-crime legislation. Honduran drug dealers know refugee claims
are rarely approved in the end, and once the delaying game is played out,
they tend to count the profits and run.

Back, of course, to tropical climes and a cache of untouchable currency.
Readers may be a little worn down, listening to descriptions of the
addicted misery that makes these financial portfolios possible, so I'll
skip to the next point.

The arrest of 73 drug dealers was ridiculed by the president of the Gastown
Homeowners, Doug Whorral.

"They should be doing 70 people a day!" he cried, apparently unaware, or
disinterested in the fact that drug enforcement never lets up. That the
recent roundup was nothing particularly unusual.

"Police paranoia" was the cheeriest remark Vancouver Sun columnist Ian
Mulgrew could muster, in response to our frustration with Honduran drug
traffickers. Our fault, I suppose, for targeting drug dealers in the
downtown eastside and finding most of them to be Hondurans.

Whorral demands the RCMP and/or armed forces be sent in, to take the
downtown eastside problem out of the hands of bungling Vancouver police.
How the RCMP might fix things is a mystery -- they play by the same
courtroom rules we do, and they're hurting as bad or worse for budget and
manpower. And the army? Nice thought, but firepower won't solve this one,
and it's not time for blue berets yet.

Meanwhile, people on the streets are taking the time to shake our hands,
thanking us for a period of comparative sanity in their world -- even
though they know it may be temporary. And though short-lived it may be, the
lull in the action IS heartening. It reminds drug dealers they don't own
our streets quite yet.

It reminds people like me that police in this city do have the resources to
clean up the downtown eastside.

It wouldn't take a world-shaking change for us to keep it that way. Judges
would have to keep drug traffickers in jail; immigration rules would have
to stop allowing refugee claims from countries with no political oppression
- -- claims that can drag out a year and more, during which time claimants
are rarely deported.

Clearly, we need detox centres, to which addicts can be sentenced, rather
than jail. As for the traffickers, let's remember their offence is still
listed as punishable by life imprisonment under federal statutes. Those
opposing harsh treatment might consider how they'd feel if these people
were trafficking in Ebola virus -- it's not much more deadly than crack
cocaine!

As things are, the only way to impose anything resembling peace and safety
on the area is to flood it with officers -- something no one seems willing
to finance.

Either way, my favorite roundup comment came yesterday, from a drug dealer
who approached an officer walking the beat on Hastings. He was expected to
deliver $10,000 to his supplier that evening, and his drug money had been
seized by police.

"I'm in serious trouble, man. Can you help me out?"

I don't know what the fellow had in mind, likely a place to hide out for a
while. Somewhere in Calgary or Edmonton, perhaps -- I hear Alberta judges
treat their drug dealers with real old-country hospitality.

Const. Mark Tonner is a Vancouver officer. The opinions and statements here
are those of the writer, not necessarily those of the police department or
the board. Tonner may be contacted at The Province, or by e-mail
marcuspt@msn.com

Checked-by: Mike Gogulski