GANG PROFITS TO BE TARGETTED

Crime : Definition Of Serious Offence Broadened

MONTREAL - Law enforcement is about to get tougher on three of
organized crime's biggest money-making machines: gambling,
prostitution and drugs.

The Conservative government has broadened the definition of a "serious
offence" under organized-crime legislation in an effort to prosecute
and punish those groups' most lucrative activities.

Justice Minister Rob Nicholson announced the changes at a news
conference Wednesday. He said the new rules focus on things currently
not considered serious offences, such as book-making and bawdy houses.

"What I've been told by law-enforcement agents and provincial
authorities is we should get all the offences included," Nicholson
told The Canadian Press in an interview.

"It gets them all, so that if a person involved in any type of illegal
activity, if they're involved in organized crime, it gets caught
within the serious offences provision."

The "serious offence" provision would not only mean longer prison
stays for convicts - it would also become easier to send people there.

It would give police more power to conduct wiretaps and other
investigative measures for crimes that fall under the provision.

The move was welcomed by the Ontario Provincial Police, among other
forces.

"Wiretap legislation is complex," said Don Bell, chief superintendent
of the OPP.

"In wiretap cases outside criminal organizations, you have to see all
means have been tried and tested. In criminal-organization cases you
can skip a couple of steps in the process and go right to wiretap."

Accordingly, prosecutors will have new powers to block bail, seize
proceeds of crime, deny parole and obtain stiffer sentences.

Criminal Intelligence Service Canada estimates there were as many as
750 organized crime groups operating in Canada last year.

The move is being enacted by executive decision from the federal
cabinet; it will not require a parliamentary vote.

Until now, only crimes punishable by at least five years in prison
fell into the "serious offence" category. The rules officially changed
Wednesday.

The 11 new serious offences include:

* Keeping a common gaming or betting house.

* Betting, pool-selling and book-making

* Committing offences in relation to lotteries and games of
chance

* Cheating while playing a game or in holding the stakes for a game or
in betting

* Keeping a common bawdy house

* Various offences in the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act relating
to trafficking

* Importing, exporting or production of certain scheduled
drugs.

"They're not necessarily part of organized crime, but if the Crown and
the law enforcement agencies can make the case, they can be part of
that," Nicholson told reporters.

"What we find is that if you're into illegal gaming, if you're into
prostitution, many times this is the currency of organized crime."

The opposition expressed qualified support for the move. But it
accused the government of using crime as a political football.

It said the government ignores any expert advice on crime prevention,
and seeks only to score points with voters by promising to toss
criminals in jail for longer.

"You have a government that's entire solution - its whole tool kit -
is all focused just on locking people up. All the things that we know
work, we know save money, save lives . . . they ignore," Liberal MP
Mark Holland said in Ottawa.

"This government, any time it gets into trouble, any time there's a
situation where the water starts getting very hot for them
politically, starts dumping on the table a rash of crime bills and
more often than not, they're not thought through.

"There's very little logic or evidence behind them. It's all about
changing the channel and talking points. . .

What we get is the government writing policy on the back of a napkin
and throwing it out, hoping that people will believe they're doing
something."

Claude Laferriere, a retired lawyer who acts as legal counsel for a
Quebec victims' rights group, called the changes a good start.

He hopes they begin to close the gap in sentencing length between
Canada and the United States.

"This is a very small effort - but it's a beginning, so I'm not
criticizing," Laferriere said. He wants more co-ordination with
authorities in the U.S. on things like sentencing.