DEAR MR. THOMPSON

Dear Mr. Thompson (re: MP hears what police have to say, Airdrie Echo,
Sept. 21): People should be wary of asking for more cops and jails.
According to StatsCan, the violent crime rate has actually been
falling for the past three years. Now I don't know how accurate these
statistics are, but it would seem to me that if the police were
overworked and undermanned, then the crime rate would be climbing, not
falling. Uncovering the method of data-collection is more your job
than mine, but I suggest you look into it. Perhaps less time should be
spent uprooting plants and more on real threats.

I happen to agree that violent offenders should get long sentences to
think about their mistakes -- that's what jails are for, to segregate
the dangerous from the rest of society. However, I resist the
importation of the U.S. drug war and see these 'calls by police across
the country' as the first step, as it was in the 1970s in the U.S.

Harsher penalties are being called for right across the spectrum and
not only in cases of violent crimes. For instance, does the national
drug strategy that you mention in passing have any resemblance to that
of the Senate Committee report chaired by Senator Nolin in 2002? Does
it include harsher cannabis prohibition or a more mature approach of
separating the hard and soft drugs by legalizing cannabis? (I highly
doubt it's the latter.)

Policing is a thankless job and law enforcement officers do have to
come in contact with the 'bottom of the barrel' on a constant basis.
This is bound to colour their opinions and attitudes. They deserve our
support in the form of sensible laws and policies. However, letting
the fox design the hen house is not my idea of smart.

Crystal meth is now the demon that many claim cannabis to be. However,
it is a prescribable drug. The street forms are dangerous, but these
are products of prohibition, as are the gangs and crime associated
with it. As bathtub gin used to claim so many victims during alcohol
prohibition, meth is claiming many, as well. It is a scourge, but our
current policies -- which are hypocritical and largely influenced by
the U.S. -- only exacerbate the problems. The drug war of the U.S. is
a disaster which we would do well not to repeat. That country has
harsh penalties and jails full of people and no shortage of drugs.
Quite the opposite. If we are to have a national drug strategy, it
needs to focus on treatment and prevention rather than criminal
prohibition and interdiction.

Lastly -- and the real reason I was inspired to write -- is my utter
horror on reading you ask for federal help in the form of more cops
and jails after 10 years of cutting transfer payments across the country.

Withdraw the social supports that attempted to address imbalance and
poverty, welfare, medical, social housing and education (which
increased the general level of suffering, which is a much more likely
cause of hard-drug abuse, lack of any good jobs, although I hear that
is not a problem in Alberta at this time) and then use that same money
to build prisons to round up and house all the disenfranchised? That's
not a very Canadian idea.

Colin Walker lives in New Westminster, B.C.