RENT-A-NARC TAKES AIMAT GROW-OPS

The local Crime Stoppers board is going cap in hand to the community
in an effort to dismantle the growing number of grow-ops and
crystal-meth labs.

The cash-for-tips program is the first in North America to seek
private donations from companies and individuals to offset the costs
of new police officers, Vern Nielsen, the board's vice-president, said
Monday.

Starting in July, three new RCMP constables will work exclusively on
Crime Stoppers tips that point to drugs and property crimes in the
Central Okanagan. Private donors have contributed more than $60,000 to
the $250,000 annual cost of the three officers. A public fundraising
campaign begins in February to make up the shortfall.

The Crime Stoppers board conceived the Safer Communities Initiative
when members realized the rate of anonymous tips was growing while the
rate of closed files dropped.

"Every day, we get further behind," Nielsen said. "We were concerned
that if the RCMP wasn't responding to tips on a timely basis, the
credibility of Crime Stoppers was at risk."

The local Mounties just got approval from city council to hire eight
new officers this year (in addition to the Crime Stoppers officers),
but they're apparently not enough. With 390 calls per constable each
year, Nielsen estimates the Central Okanagan has only two thirds of
the officers it needs. About 197 will work in the district by the fall.

Meanwhile, organized-crime groups become more entrenched. Two of the
new officers will work alongside the RCMP's six-member drug section.
The third officer will tackle property crime, which is often related
to drugs.

"By closing down the grow-ops, meth labs and property crimes, we'll
make Kelowna a difficult place for organized crime," said Nielsen, who
is running as a Liberal in the federal election.

RCMP Supt. Bill McKinnon admitted Monday that in the last year, drug
officers have gone after cocaine dealers at the expense of marijuana
grow-ops an activity he links with organized crime.

"We have all kinds of grow-op tips we can't follow up on," McKinnon
said, "but we can do a whole lot better job than we have done in the
past year responding to tips."

A record 951 tips were called in to Crime Stoppers in 2005, said
co-ordinator Bruce Baron. He was unable to say how many of those files
police didn't pursue.

The federal government is paying 30 per cent of the salary and
equipment costs, $120,000 in total, for each new officer. The
board's goal is to pay the remaining 70 per cent through donations and
government grants until the provincial government absorbs the costs in
its budget in the next couple of years.

"Government should be doing it. Unfortunately . . . this is an urgent
matter. That's why Crime Stoppers is getting involved, because the
tips aren't responded to quickly enough right now," Nielsen said. "If
there's no response, people will stop phoning in. It will implode the
whole program."

Anonymous sources called in 392 drug-related tips to Crime Stoppers
last year. Even though only 24 arrests were made, $1.1 million of
drugs were seized.

Nielsen estimates more than 500 grow-ops exist in the Central
Okanagan.