VIGOROUS CRACKDOWN WILL CONTINUE

Penticton and cities in the Lower Mainland are now having to deal with
crack cocaine users who used to be in Kelowna, but fled after a crack
down on crack houses by the RCMP this summer.

The crack down, said Supt. Bill McKinnon, has had a significant impact
on the number of crack users left in the community.

"The downtown, in my opinion, is probably the best its been in four
years," he added, noting the decrease in the number of criminally
transient people in the community.

Penticton RCMP Cpl. Rick Dellebuur said yesterday officers there
haven't noticed an influx of drug users in his city.

However, "a big chunk of our drug supply is coming from your area," he
said.

"I don't know if its increased."

McKinnon declined to say which Lower Mainland communities have noticed
what he calls a huge influx of crack users.

The Capital News phoned a number of Lower Mainland police detachments
to discuss the issue, but the handful of media spokespeoples who
returned calls weren't aware of an influx of Kelowna drug users in
their communities.

Because of the crackdown here , McKinnon said he's noticed a decrease
in the number of property-related offences in the city.

He said when there are large numbers of crack users in the community,
the number of property offences goes up as users steal to make money
to buy the drug.

Last month, the number of thefts under $5,000 was down 22 per cent
compared to August 2006. And the numbers of theft overs $5,000 were
down by a third.

The number of break-ins dropped 43 per cent in August 2007 compared to
the same month last year.

McKinnon said the Kelowna RCMP is not planning to ease up on crack
houses in here.

"We will continue to be vigorous with regard to crack houses in our
community," he said.

As well, it continues to work with city officials to amend a bylaw to
make it easier for a crack house to be shut down by the city.