TOUGHER CONFISCATION LAW PLEDGED

Mayors and councillors pressed provincial cabinet ministers Wednesday
to explain why B.C. has been so slow to hit criminals in their wallets
by seizing illegally acquired property.

"We're not tough enough on major criminals," Courtenay councillor
Larry Jangula told a public safety panel discussion during the Union
of B.C. Municipalities convention.

He pointed to crystal meth lab operators in particular.

"These people have the ability to seriously damage people for-ever,"
he said. "We never hear of maximum sentences. It's common knowledge
all across North America that B.C. is the softest on all drug offences
that there is."

Jangula noted existing federal law regulating seized criminal assets
has a major loophole.

"The lawyers have first crack at getting whatever money comes out of
that and often there's nothing left over," he said.

Attorney-General Wally Oppal confirmed the Criminal Code "for some
reason" lets the accused and their lawyers apply to use the assets for
reasonable legal and living expenses.

But he said the province has introduced its own Civil Forfeiture Act
to short-circuit that provision and bar criminals and lawyers from
tapping the money.

Instead it will go to crime prevention and victim assistance.

"The best way to deal with drug dealers is to seize their assets,"
Oppal said. "Some of us have been saying that for years. This
government listened to that and responded to that."

The bill hasn't yet become law and Victoria is carefully watching the
status of a similar Ontario law to see if it survives legal
challenges. Oppal said he and others in the justice system have long
wondered why police in B.C. don't seize much property, but added the
law may help.

Solitor General John Les applauded local bylaws in Surrey and
Abbotsford that have proved an effective means for shutting down
marijuana grow-ops.

Local authorities post inspection notices on suspected grow houses,
often forcing cultivators to quickly move and home owners to undergo
expensive renovations.

"The objective here is to hit them in their pocketbook," Les said,
adding the technique doesn't usually yield charges.

"It means for a lot of these people, crime isn't going to pay any
more."

He also applauded successful strategies in places like Maple Ridge and
Mission to tackle the problem of crystal meth.

Oppal also found himself under attack for the Liberal government's
move in its previous term to shut down court houses as a cost-saving
measure.

Councillors from Sidney and Langley said their citizens, and in some
cases their police officers, spend too much time commuting to distant
court houses since closures in their communities.

Sidney councillor Tim Chad said police in his area "find themselves
down in Victoria wandering around halls twiddling their thumbs waiting
for their cases to be brought up when they could be in our communities
20 minutes away."

Oppal promised to meet to hear the concerns in detail.