DRUG WARS KNOCK VANCOUVER'S STATUS

Magazine Compares City To Colombia

(CNS) - Vancouver's reputation suffered another black eye this week
after a story in a prestigious international magazine compared
British Columbia to Colombia, a country infamous for drugs, cartels
and violence.

In an article titled British Columbia or Colombia? The Economist said
organized crime had brought fear and violence to Vancouver's streets.

"Canada remains one of the world's safest countries but in recent
years Vancouver, B. C.'s largest city, has gained notoriety for gun
crime, especially among drug gangs,"said the article, citing the
nearly 450 gangsters killed in Vancouver since 1997.

The article quotes Pat Fogarty, a senior officer in the Royal
Canadian Mounted Police, linking Vancouver's drug war to a crackdown
on drug trafficking in Mexico and the United States disrupting the
cocaine distribution chain to Canada, putting supply at a premium.

The article points the finger of blame in part at jurisdictional
conflicts between the various police services charged with keeping
the Lower Mainland safe.

Rob Gordon, a criminologist at Simon Fraser University, told The
Economist that past efforts to create an agency to fight drug gangs
have foundered on conflicts among the various participating police forces.

"Despite some recent high-profile arrests of gangsters, Vancouver's
local police admit they are not winning the war," the article states.
"They complain of having fewer officers per head of population than
other big Canadian cities. The provincial government is planning
a$20-million cut in annual spending on police and the courts by
2012.The gangsters, by contrast, are well funded and have little
trouble replacing those lost in shootouts."

It's not the first recent example of bad European press for
Vancouver. Last month, The Independent, a Brit-ish newspaper,
described Vancouver as a "blood-splattered" city.