BIG OR SMALL-TIME DEALERS, THEY'RE STILL A PROBLEM

I thought The Journal would like a community perspective on the recent
"sting" operation that resulted in 55 individuals being charged with drug
related offences.

These are not, as an earlier article described, sex trade workers who
supplement their income by selling drugs. These are drug dealers -- let's
call them what they are.

One of the alleged dealers arrested in the sting was reported to have said
that street workers are not big-time dealers.

I don't care if they are big-time or small-time, they all contribute to the
problem and need to be off the streets.

This woman also said she feels like a police target. I would hope so.
Accused criminals are supposed to be targeted by police. That's what we pay
them to do.

As for the concerns of Kate Quinn, executive director of Prostitution
Action and Awareness Foundation of Edmonton, that police have targeted the
most vulnerable members of our society, I disagree.

I would argue the vulnerable ones are the children of these communities who
are exposed to used condoms and needles, who are exposed to drug dealers
and their customers and suppliers; the teenage girls who are harassed by
drug dealers and their johns.

- - ith this sting, the city police have protected the most vulnerable
members of society. Perhaps now I can stop at a stop sign near my home and
not have my four-year-old daughter see one of these drug dealers expose
herself, or bang on the door of my car trying to get in.

As for Quinn's concerns about compassionate enforcement -- compassionate
for whom?

In the past, the drug dealers showed no compassion for the communities they
victimized. Local residents have suffered threats, assaults and a myriad of
other crimes at the hands of these drug dealers.

It brings me joy that many of these alleged drug dealers will be in jail
until March. Jail may be their best opportunity to reassess their lives (in
addition to keeping them safe from themselves and the harm done to them by
others). Those who were denied bail now have time to get clean and make
positive changes in their lives.

As a 10-year resident of one of the communities affected by drug dealers, I
would like to extend my heartfelt thanks to the Edmonton Police Service. I
appreciate their efforts, even if the "advocates" or (not surprisingly)
those arrested don't.

Rick Schonheiter, Edmonton