POLICE PREPARE TO DEPLOY THINK TANK

There are so many massive marijuana grow-operations in the strip
between 100 Mile House and Prince George, and such a small police task
force aimed at stopping it, that an urgent roundtable is being
convened to prolong the pressure.

The proposed group would be dedicated to fighting the cash cow for
organized crime, and be comprised of local government officials, law
enforcement and community leaders so the best set of recommendations
can be dispatched to senior governments in no uncertain terms.

Bob Simpson, independent MLA for Cariboo North said Williams Lake RCMP
detachment commander Staff Sgt. Warren Brown initiated the idea and
other key stakeholders are already interested in taking part.

"We are putting a think tank together on this, based in Williams
Lake," he said. "It would be something to help gather information
together so we can speak on a more unified basis to the various levels
of government."

He said the group intended to speak from a position of strength based
on the the knowledge gained from the current Cariboo Region Integrated
Marihuana Enforcement (CRIME) task force, the years of
industrial-sized grow-ops that preceded this special police project,
and bring in expertise from elsewhere as needed to make their point to
government.

"It was one of our worst kept secrets, that the Cariboo has an
organized crime problem," Simpson said, remembering big busts in his
neighbourhood dating back to 2004 that have only grown in size and
frequency since then.

He fears that after the funding for the CRIME campaign expires in six
months' time, the problem will have only been momentarily
interrupted.

"Give [law enforcement] the resources they need to continue so we
don't signal the Asian gangs that the Cariboo is open for business
again," Simpson said, stressing police already have their hands full
with front-line municipal work.

"The thing we need to do is backstop what the RCMP is doing," he said.
"We need to address the legislative gaps [and provide] stable funding."

One of the people Simpson wants in the think tank is Art Kaehn, chair
of the Regional District of Fraser-Fort George.

Kaehn was outspoken on recent crime stats showing certain crime
categories were worse in the rural areas around Prince George than
inside the city.

"Rural residents aren't doing their job," he said, specifically
referring to break-and-enters and vehicle thefts, up 50 per cent and
36 per cent respectively in 2010.

"Neighbours watch out for their neighbours. This stat does not occur
when rural people watch over their neighbours' property. Maybe there
are new folks moving into the rural areas that don't know yet that
that's the way it's done. You do it because you care, and because it
could be your property."

Kaehn pointed out that only five per cent of overall Prince George
crime happens in the rural area, despite rural residents making up 15
per cent of the region's population. He looked forward to better
numbers over time, since the local urban/rural split only had two
years of data.

Simpson said he would be contacting Kaehn and many others to bring the
think tank together soon, but no dialogue would be brought forward to
government until a new Solicitor General was named in the wake of the
leadership changes going on with political parties in Victoria.