POLICE FORCE NOT 'MAGIC WAND,' SAYS DEPUTY CHIEF

SAINT JOHN - Bruce Connell walks into his new office, removes his
police tunic and hangs it up.

With the jacket gone, the soft-spoken deputy chief
relaxes.

Boxes are scattered on the floor and the walls are bare in the deputy
police chief's new office.

A member of the Saint John Police Force since 1984, he's now second in
command. While most who are new to the deputy chief's seventh-floor
office at City Hall come armed with a long to-do list, Connell doesn't
want to change the world. He believes the force is moving in the right
direction.

But, he said, the public has to work with police to change their
city.

"People see the police really as, at times, a magic wand," Connell
said. "Call the police and my problems will go away. They don't want
to participate in giving a statement or they don't want to go through
the court process so our hands are tied too."

The police have made great strides to connect with citizens, Connell
said, but in certain areas of the city some residents still scatter at
the sight of a police car.

"We have a lot of good people who work with the police to solve
things," Connell said.

"From our side, we see a remarkable difference in the interactions
between us and the community."

Poverty and the desperation it breeds doesn't always equate to crime
and mistrust of those who enforce the law, he said.

"We could be in a very affluent neighbourhood and have people who want
nothing to do with the police because of what they're up to," Connell
said.

With community police offices in Crescent Valley, north end, lower
west side, south end and uptown, Connell said the force is better
connected with residents than ever before.

"There's always going to be an element of people who see the police as
the enemy because (we) don't flow with what they're up to, but I've
seen less and less of that over the years."

Connell's previous role was head of criminal investigations. He was in
that job for less than a year before moving into the office next to
the chief. He replaced Darrell Scribner, who retired in the new year.

Police, Connell agreed, aren't social workers, but he believes the
Saint John Force and its officers take extra steps to help.

"Police officers are human and sometimes all we can do is enforce the
law in certain things."

In the bigger picture, he said, they can try to get at the root of
what drives someone to crime.

Connell's boss, Chief Bill Reid, fought for a new methadone clinic to
be established in the city. The chief won the battle and Connell
believes it's driven crime down.

"Policing has really expanded," he said. "How have we done a really
good job if we just arrest people and just put them in jail? What has
that done? That hasn't helped. We haven't helped that person and we
haven't helped the community.

Simply arresting people and filling jails, Connell said, would only
feed a vicious circle.

Even if drugs magically disappeared from the city's landscape, he
said, it wouldn't mean they'd board up the police station.

"I think we'll always have a job because we're all human," Connell
said. "We're all human and there's always going to be disputes and
issues."