STRONGER LAWS NEEDED TO FIGHT DRUG PUSHERS

The activities inside a commercial building downtown have shone the
spotlight on the difficulties police have when trying to bust people
running drug houses.

Prince George RCMP say a downtown building is operating as a crack
shack. Essentially a flop house, police say tenants are selling drugs
from rooms in the rundown premises.

Despite their knowledge of what's going on inside, police's hands are
tied by laws governing searches.

Police require almost irrefutable proof of criminal activity before
being issued a search warrant. They can't simply happen upon a
premises or person and shake them down. That's understandable. We
would be in a sorry state as a society if police were allowed to
search homes or individuals on a whim or a simple suspicion.

However, it's infuriating when criminals are permitted to carry on
their activities under the public's and police's nose so long as
their deeds are concealed from view.

Police need more law-enforcement tools at their disposal.

We support the calls by Sgt. Raj Sidhu, commander of the RCMP's task
force unit, for meatier bylaws at city hall that would handcuff drug
dealers and pimps.

Additionally, landlords must be brought to bear for enabling criminal
activity by their scumbag tenants, many of whom, despite being of
presumably less-than-modest means, drive expensive vehicles and have
no problem paying the rent.

Ever wonder why?

Laws at the federal level also must be strengthened to give police
and judges more clout in investigating and sentencing.

Drug dealers are a plague on our city and existing laws are having
little effect.

Their efforts could be greatly aided by city hall and our
tough-on-crime Members of Parliament.