JOINT FORCES TO FIGHT CRIME

Police and academics at two Lower Mainland Universities are teaming up to
share information and the latest research on how to best combat crime,
Solicitor General John Les announced.

"This innovative crime-fighting partnership is the first agreement of its
kind in Canada," Les said.

"It is an intelligence-based approach that is the future of crime
reduction. By giving police the tools they need to attack crime in new ways
we will gain the knowledge we need to better allocate police resources and
create safer communities across B.C."

The three-party information-sharing agreement was signed at the University
College of the Fraser Valley in Abbotsford. The Centre for Criminal Justice
Research on campus has been a leader in research on grow operations and
crystal meth in B.C., auto crime, highly recidivistic offenders and crime
prevention.

A partner lab, the Institute of Canadian Urban Research Studies at Simon
Fraser University carries out multidisciplinary research on urban issues
and problems in Canada and they are also part of the agreement, along with
the RCMP.

Using computer technology and expert analysis, criminologists at both
campuses will work together analyzing crime data to look at, among other
things, the root causes of crime, crime hot spots, and repeat offenders.

They will constantly be in touch with their counterparts around the world
and will be able to instantly provide police with access to crime reduction
techniques from international experts to help identify strategies that will
work in B.C.

At the same time, RCMP will provide the researchers with their own police
data to complete the picture, and ultimately, point the way to reducing
crime in the future.

"Crime today is much more organized and complex than in the past so we have
to fight back with smarter tools," said Bev Busson, RCMP deputy
commissioner of the Pacific region and C.O. of "E" Division.

"That's why we're putting our heads together and building new alliances to
tackle crime with superior knowledge and strong, committed cooperation."