MAYOR DISPUTES 'TOUGH ON CRIME' B.C.

Surrey's mayor is challenging some of the claims made by the province
this week about law and order.

The discussion comes after a week of gang-fuelled bloodshed in Surrey
and throughout the region and calls from the public for meaningful
justice.

Last Friday, Premier Gordon Campbell told The Surrey-North Delta
Leader that Victoria was doing what it could to combat gang violence.

"We've increased the number of police officers we have in this
province by more than 900," he said. "We have an organized gang task
force and homicide task force.

"I do think we have to take the steps necessary to stop this from
happening," Campbell said. "I also think we have to be honest with
people and say, 'look, there's some things that are not in our hands.'
"

Surrey Mayor Dianne Watts disputes that claim.

"There's a number of things that can be done," Watts said Monday. "The
municipal government cannot continue to cover the rising (police)
costs, we need help from our partners."

Regarding justice, B.C. Attorney General Wally Oppal released a report
Monday showing this province sends a higher percentage of guilty
people to prison than most provinces (see story, above).

Just over a third (36 per cent) of people found guilty go to prison in
this province, second only to Prince Edward Island, which locked up 57
per cent.

Watts also disputes that and said it's fairly widely known that
sentences in this province are weak, making it attractive for criminals.

Dr. Darryl Plecas, a criminology professor at the University of the
Fraser Valley, agrees.

"We have a fairly pathetic situation on our hands with regard to
sentencing practices," Plecas said. "When they sentence people,
(judges) are supposed to take into account public safety.

"If that is the case, why on Earth is the average sentence for people
sent to prison just three months?" Plecas said. "This is just
nonsense, it's just ridiculous."

B.C. is different than other provinces in its charge approval
processes. Here, charges are only laid if a Crown prosecutor
determines there is a high likelihood of conviction. In other
provinces, the police approve charges.

B.C. also has a huge number of cases that are pleaded down, where
lesser charges and or sentences are reached by agreement between
lawyers in exchange for guilty pleas to avoid court time.

Bumper crop of crime gangs

This province has 10 times as many crime gangs as it had a decade ago,
according to a criminology professor.

"Ten years ago we had eight to 10 organized criminal gangs in the
province," said Dr. Darryl Plecas. Those were the "usual suspects"
including Hells Angels and Triads, he said. "If you ask police this
year, the number of organized gangs is over 100."

Plecas said that explosion in the number of gangs is a direct result
of a proliferation of marijuana grow operations, a problem we're
exporting. "If you go to the U.K. and ask them where their grow
problem came from, they'll trace it right back to British Columbia."

By and large the local gangs are forming here, he said, adding the
problem goes directly back to the courts, which continually fail to
mete out meaningful sentences.