KELOWNA'S DRUG DEALERS PUT CARTS BEFORE THEIR HOARDS

Police In Kelowna, B.C., Are Going After A New Target In Their War Against
Drugs: Shopping Carts.

Declaring that these stolen carts are being used by drug dealers pretending
to be homeless, police plan a citywide sweep to reclaim carts on April 1.

The proposed sweep has alarmed community workers and the homeless who worry
that the crackdown will target the meagre possessions owned by street people.

Inspector Cam Forbes said people who are genuinely homeless in the Okanagan
city of about 95,000 have nothing to worry about.

"Our concerns are the drug transients who have been inundating the city and
camouflaging as homeless so they can sell drugs," Insp. Forbes said
yesterday. "Sometimes they even steal carts from the real homeless to use
as a cover and we are getting calls for help in retrieving them."

Despite assurances from the RCMP that officers will not be taking away
carts used by the homeless to store their blankets and other possessions,
the planned crackdown has already taken a toll.

Candy Sutherland, executive director of the Kelowna Drop-In Centre, said
one of her clients spent a night in jail late last week for uttering
threats after his shopping cart was either stolen by drug dealers or taken
by police.

"It's one more thing to push them toward the edge. They are vulnerable,"
Ms. Sutherland said. "It's really difficult to get these individuals to
trust you to begin with."

Individuals and groups such as the B.C. Government and Service Employees
Union have been donating carts to replace those confiscated by the police,
but Ms. Sutherland said there are so many now that the drop-in centre has
no place to store them.

The shopping carts are a temporary solution to a bigger issue that police
and politicians should be addressing, she said, of how to help the homeless
find suitable housing and the health care they require.

A representative for business owners downtown, where most of the 250
estimated homeless live, said the number of street people has risen.

A survey from last spring found 157 individuals living in shelters with 64
people living on the streets, a 28-per-cent increase from the year before.
So far this year, police estimate the number of homeless in Kelowna has
risen by another 11 per cent.

"We are trying to crack down on shopping carts because they are stolen
property," said Clint McKenzie, executive director of the Downtown Kelowna
Business Improvement Area Association. "We're not saying the homeless don't
deserve a place to store their stuff. A locker system would make more sense."

Over the past two years, Mr. McKenzie said, 120 to 150 carts have been
stolen from one downtown supermarket alone. The carts cost between $350 and
$400 each to replace.

Aggressive policing in the area will cause more problems for the homeless,
even if they are not being specifically targeted, said Michael Shapcott, a
researcher in the Urban and Community Studies program at the University of
Toronto, and co-chair of the National Housing and Homeless Network.

"Even if there is a veneer of goodwill of trying to help the homeless who
have become targets, this is not the way to solve the situation," Mr.
Shapcott said. "Any time there are campaigns, the impact is on the
desperately poor and it drives people deeper underground."

In February, Toronto City Council passed a bylaw banning camping in a local
square. In British Columbia, the provincial government recently approved
legislation cracking down on aggressive panhandling.

Kelowna Mayor Walter Gray said initial reports of the crackdown caused
unnecessary concerns among the genuine homeless and led to offers of help
from people in the community to replace carts.

"What people saw or heard was that some poor old soul who is no threat to
society is losing his cart," said Mr. Gray, adding he is discouraging
people from replacing carts and asking them to think instead of helping
find a place where the real homeless can store their carts and bicycles.