SOL-GEN RIGHT TO STOP SPONSOR-A-COP PLAN

Solicitor General John Les may not be a popular man in Kelowna this
week, but we appreciate the principled stand taken by the
Chilliwack-Sumas MLA.

Les put the kibosh on a seemingly innoocent plan to have Kelowna
businesses sponsor the hiring of new RCMP officers in the city.

The hub of the Okanagan is dealing with a lot of the same issues as
Abbotsford. Kelowna has a new bypass being built to ease traffic,
there is a call to wipe out rapidly spreading graffiti taggers, the
homeless there have complained that the city took their shopping
carts, and a rise in crime is causing consternation.

Sound familiar? There's more: Like Abbotsford, Kelowna is looking to
expand its police force, but the money is tough to come by.

So, Kelowna's CrimeStoppers devised a plan to raise $250,000 through
business donations and hire three more RCMP officers. To recognize the
donors, their business logos would be published alongside drug-busting
crime stats in newspaper advertising in the local press.

Les, the former Mayor of Chilliwack, took the firm stand that the
police must be seen to have only one master: the cause of law and order.

"If there were direct forms of funding coming from outside of
government, that would very likely influence policing decisions, or at
least the expectation would be there that policing decisions would be
influenced in that way," he said.

Kelowna CrimeStoppers must now return $70,000 to donors who already
put up their money to assist.

As tough as it might have been to check citizens getting involved in
law and order initiatives, Les was right to do it.

The money to be raised was targeted at grow-ops, and perhaps Kelowna
should investigate the City of Abbotsford's excellent Grow Op Public
Safety Project. The pilot project cost $93,000, and ran through spring
and summer of 2005. It generated 120 tips, and the city took action on
30 grow op properties. The city issued non-residency orders against
the homes, shut off their water, and reported the grow-ops to police.

It's probably just what they're looking for in Kelowna.