SUPERINTENDENT GIVES RESIDENTS A PREVIEW OF DRUG INITIATIVE ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Ruth White measures the success of anti-drug efforts among 14 Division
police by the amount of time it takes undercover officers to make a
buy.

White, the superintendent for 14 Division of Toronto Police Service,
said it took her undercover officers three days to make a buy. That
means good things for the community, she said.

Full details of the arrests, seizure quantities and dollar values are
still to be officially confirmed. White said a release on so-called
Project SAINT will be issued Monday, Dec. 1. However, she was at the
annual general meeting of the Parkdale Residents Association (PRA) on
Nov. 27 and gave those in attendance a preview of what the project
accomplished.

During the project, White said, officers were able to make more than
20 drug purchases and seized everything from cocaine to ketamine,
ecstasy and marijuana in addition to a shotgun.

Seventy-two arrests were made as a result of the initiative, but White
shocked the PRA when she told them that between those 72 people they
had about 1,500 previous convictions.

Det. Sgt. Rob Johnson later confirmed the initiative comprised 17
operational days that ran from Oct. 27 to Nov. 28 in three main areas
of 14 Division - Bloor and Queen streets and King Street from
Lansdowne Avenue to Bathurst Street.

He said it was an 'opportunity-buy' project where undercover officers
would wait until they were approached by drug dealers.

White said 14 Division is working hard to keep the streets safe, but
these kinds of operations are tough on the officers. White even told
members of the PRA about an officer who had 21 pins implanted in a leg
after being "taken down" by a drug dealer.

She went on to say that she receives letters all the time from the
public advising her of where residents see problems they would like
police to deal with. She said she wasn't asking residents to stop
writing about problems, but she did have another request for them.

"What I am asking you to do is demand the same penalty someone in a
small town would get as someone with the same conviction would get in
Toronto," she said.

Someone in Huntsville who is convicted of having one kilogram of
cocaine might go to jail for three years whereas in Toronto they would
likely get probation, White said.

Following her presentation, White fielded questions from the
residents. They asked about her stand on legal injection sites, which
White said she cannot accept.

"I support education, I support reaching out," she said. "I cannot
accept safe injection sites."

"Are there police walking the beat on Queen Street?" one resident
asked.

"They walk it as regular as they can get there," White replied, adding
that all of the residents' associations within 14 Division are asking
for the same thing - increased police presence.

But, she has a total of 40 officers, and they "get spread pretty
thin".

Finally, White was asked what the community and the PRA could do to
assist police in their efforts.

She told them, exactly what they were doing at the meeting that night
- - working together.

She told them when the PRA plants trees, try to make sure they are
tall, not bushes, so criminals can't hide behind them.

"It's called crime prevention through environmental design," she
said.

Or by taking advantage of safety assessments, increasing lighting and
fencing, but most of all, by getting out and taking back the streets.

For more on Project SAINT, visit ParkdaleLiberty.ca Dec. 1.