HELP THE POLICE AND HELP OURSELVES TOO

The signs are there.

You notice a house in your neighbourhood where no one seems to go to
work, but they sure have a nice truck to drive around in.

The people in this house have a lot of visitors dropping in, but these
visitors never seem to stay for more than a few minutes.

And when you walk by, you notice the window in the front door is
completely black.

It's all a little weird and suspicious - and yes, your instincts are
correct.

Those are the signs of a drug house, and low and medium level drug
houses are in the Fredericton Police Force's line of sight.

These sorts of houses aren't necessarily in any specific
neighbourhoods in Fredericton. There is no typical "drug zone" in our
city. They could be anywhere, which complicates the issue of
surveillance.

Another of the problems with raiding drug houses is some are low level
enough not to attract attention from the police because the signs
aren't there constantly. But they could be attracting your attention,
because you live right there and see all the suspicious activity.

So the police force is asking for a little help from
you.

If you notice this sort of activity in your neighbourhood, they ask
that you let them know.

Our police force has created a confidential complaint process for
neighbours to discretely advise them of drug activity.

They encourage you to act on your suspicions so the police can act.
It's a proactive approach, which is refreshing since enforcement of
the law is usually more reactive to crime.

This is something of a departure from the past, where the public was
under the assumption that police forces didn't want to bother with low
level dealers, preferring to target the higher-ups.

But when you take out the middle and low-level dealers, the house of
cards falls, because the high-level dealers have no marketing system,
no means of getting their drugs into the hands of customers, which is
just what the police would like.

Some will be fearful, and assume that the dealer will know you were
the one who ratted them out. But that's not the case with the
guarantee of privacy from the police.

As well, the more people in the neighbourhood who get on board, the
stronger the force trying to right the wrong. If all or most residents
join the cause, the unequivocal, united and powerful message to the
dealer is move on, you are not welcome.

This isn't a high-tech, newfangled approach to ridding our streets of
drugs.

In fact, it's rather grassroots - a wonderfully simple method of crime
reduction.

The results are certainly worth it: a reduction in property crime; a
rise in property values; and a much more livable neighbourhood where
people don't have to walk by a certain house with trepidation and
children are free to play.

And speaking of children, if you have any qualms about squealing on a
drug dealer, think of their future, and do whatever you can to ensure
they don't get ensnared in a life of addiction.

The call to the police is worth it.