ANTI-CRIME PLAN UNVEILED

Province Adding Prosecutors, Jail Cells; Hells Angels Add Hot Tub

AS Justice Minister Gord Mackintosh talked tough yesterday about cracking
down on crime, the Hells Angels were installing a new hot tub and gazebo at
their north Winnipeg clubhouse.

The juxtaposition of the NDP government's announcement of its new
law-and-order crusade, and the expansion of the gang's Scotia Street
clubhouse, highlights how difficult it is for lawmakers to make a dent in
crime.

But at a news conference yesterday, Mackintosh vowed that effort would
continue without pause.

His government's crime-fighting strategy came three days after Mayor Sam
Katz and Police Chief Jack Ewatski announced a so-called "in-your-face"
police clampdown on drug and gang crime in the west and north ends of the city.

"We can't always wait for action at the courthouse to make it safer,"
Mackintosh said. "We're going to bring this all to a new level." He said
that includes adding five Crown attorneys to the gang prosecutions unit --
there are eight now -- and introducing Canada's first community prosecutor,
Susan Helenchilde.

Helenchilde joined the Manitoba Crown attorneys' office two years ago after
working as a prosecutor in British Columbia, where she did drug cases.

"Manitoba leads the country in policing and prosecution initiatives," she
said yesterday. "Winnipeg is the best possible place for this to be
happening, because it's so communitarian."

Mackintosh also said the province will add more people to the public safety
branch, the office responsible for shutting down drug and prostitution
houses. It has closed down 127 such buildings in the past two years.

He also said more jail cells will be added to Headingley and Dauphin
Correctional Centres. Provincial holding facilities, including the Winnipeg
Remand Centre, are currently housing more inmates than they were built to hold.

Mackintosh also said that in the coming year, the province will continue
working with community groups to prevent youth criminality.

Among other measures, it will help help groups access $1.6 million in
funding from the province and Ottawa's National Crime Prevention Centre,
and increase citizen neighbourhood patrols.

The attorney general said he couldn't comment on the Hells Angels clubhouse
and why it hasn't been shut down yet because he is not allowed to talk
about specific cases.

Police have long said the Hells Angels is the biggest organized crime group
in the province and controls a large part of Winnipeg's drug trade. Police
also say many property and violent and gun-related crimes are linked to the
drug trade.

Mackintosh said government can only do so much to make streets safer.

"We have to send a stronger message to our youth that every time they buy
drugs they're hurting themselves and strengthening organized crime," he
said. "The solution starts with the individual, the family and then
government."

Isora Van Dreser, the girlfriend of Philippe Haiart, said she approved of
the province's crime-fighting plan. Haiart, 17, was killed Oct. 10 when he
was caught in the middle of a gang shootout.

"People need to stop buying drugs," she said. "That just fuels the gangs.
People don't realize how much harm they're doing."

Rev. Harry Lehotsky of New Life Ministries said crime is not just an
inner-city problem.

"It's the people from the suburbs coming to the inner city to buy their
drugs," he said.

He said it will take some time to determine whether the anti-crime strategy
announced yesterday will be effective. "Things will get quiet on the
streets over the winter. In the spring we'll find out how it works."