ACADEMIC BRINGS UNIQUE ROLE TO CRIME-PREVENTION POSITION

An academic who studied the impact of heroin use on Vancouver's
Downtown East Side has stepped into the role of the city's new
crime-prevention officer.

Mark Huhn started the job Monday following an official announcement
by Mayor Terry Lake. He fills a role vacated by Pete Backus, who
dropped out partway through his one-year contract with the city last
September to run for mayor.

Unlike Backus, who was a former RCMP officer, Huhn's background is in
research and crime-reduction strategies. Lake said this made Huhn an
ideal candidate for the job.

"We thought that given Mark's background in research and his ability
to go on the street in one of the roughest neighbourhoods in Canada
would serve him well in working with community groups in Kamloops and
understanding the types of problems we're facing here," he said.

Lake was referring to Huhn's work with the North American Opiate
Maintenance Project (NAOMI). NAOMI tracks heroin addicts to see if
prescribed heroin is better than methadone for treatment while
monitoring whether giving the drug for free would reduce homelessness
and crime.

Huhn said he will use the knowledge he gained while working with
NAOMI and apply it to his job here.

"In any urban area you have the same problems regardless of size," he said.

His other duties include collecting and analysing statistics,
developing crime-prevention performance measures and working with
business groups and neighbourhoods to develop crime-prevention strategies.

Lake said this includes working with Kamloops RCMP and the downtown
business association's Central Ambassador Program, which returns to
city streets June 1.

RCMP Supt. Jim Begley said the police foot patrol starts operating
out of the North and South Shore community policing offices in time
for the May 20 long weekend. Constables Mark Price and George Buttuls
will alternate between both sides of the river.

Huhn moved to Vancouver from Saskatchewan in 2003 and is now settling
in Kamloops. He is completing his PhD in criminology at Simon Fraser
University.

His research on crime-reduction strategies is being done in
consultation with RCMP E-Division headquarters, SFU and the Institute
for Canadian Research Studies, he said.