RCMP DRUG BUSTS JUMP 25 PER CENT

"Every Community In Nunavut Has A Drug Problem, Without Exception"

Nunavut police have vowed to continue their crack-down on drug trafficking
in Nunavut, as they emerge from a bountiful year of arrests and marijuana
seizures.

RCMP recently compiled their crime statistics for 2004, revealing a
sizeable increase in drug charges.

Last year, the RCMP drug squad and regular officers carried out drug busts
and laid 382 charges, a 25 per cent increase from 2003, when police laid
308 charges.

Insp. Paul Young, a senior officer with the RCMP's "V" Division in Nunavut,
credited the increase to the drug squad's decision to pay less attention to
lower-rung dealers.

Young said police are now focusing more on stopping the flow of drugs that
are smuggled to Nunavut from Quebec.

"We're not targeting the street level," Young said. "Our strategic
priorities are much higher than that."

Officers have found that the majority of drugs, mainly marijuana, come to
Iqaluit from Montreal.

But Young warned that the drug problem doesn't remain in Nunavut's capital.

"A lot of narcotics intercepted in Iqaluit are bound for other
communities," he said. "Every community in Nunavut has a drug problem,
without exception."

Despite targeting the upper-level traffickers, police didn't back off
charges for simple possession of marijuana.

In 2004, there were 136 charges for possessing pot, and eight charges
related to cocaine offences.

More than half the drug charges in 2004 were related to trafficking - 193
counts. Only one, involving amphetamines, was related to a drug other than pot.

Across Nunavut, most crime levels measured by RCMP statistics remained
virtually the same.

Booze offences such as bootlegging dipped to 983 charges in 2004, down from
1,074 in 2003.

In violent crimes across Nunavut, there were the following changes in 2004,
from the year before:

assaults decreased nominally to 1,792 from 1,815 cases; assaults with a
weapon increased to 276 from 241; and sexual assaults declined slightly to
276 from 308. Statistics show there were five homicides in 2004, compared
to three in 2003.

Police laid seven charges of attempted murder last year, up from three in 2003.

Property crimes remained high. There were 2,185 cases in 2004, down
slightly from 2,224 the year before.

These cases include break-ins and thefts of motor vehicles, such as
snowmobiles. Police noted a large jump in vandalism, which climbed to 3,065
cases of property damage under $5,000, up from 2,676 in 2003.

Nunavut experienced a similar spike to Iqaluit in cases of disturbing the
peace last year. Those cases totaled 2,329 last year, up from 1,926.

"That could be reflective of more people willing to call police," Young said.

The number of charges for uttering threats reached 451 over the same time
period, up from 364.

Young said a further break-down of the statistics show that Iqaluit, Rankin
Inlet, Cambridge Bay, Pond Inlet, and Kugluktuk have the highest crime
rates of Nunavut's 25 communities.

Each officer in the three of those top communities handles around 200 cases
per year.

Young refused to identify specific case-loads for each community, but said
that 200 cases per officer is "extreme" compared to the rest of Canada.