TIME FOR CRACKDOWN

In hospitals, the most urgent attention goes to the most ill
patients.

In times of war, troops are bolstered on fronts where the enemy is
inflicting the highest number of casualties.

So, it only stands to reason that the areas hardest hit by crime would
be serviced by the largest number of police officers.

In Calgary, that's not the case.

The much-maligned streets of Forest Lawn -- brimming with crack
addicts, drunks and hookers -- get virtually the same amount of
policing as any other similar-sized district in the city.

And that's the reason the war on crime in one of Calgary's oldest
communities is, by my humble estimation, being lost.

Not because cops in the old 'hood don't care -- there just aren't
enough of them.

The police service believes officers should be evenly dispersed
throughout the city.

The city is broken down into districts and those districts are further
divided into zones.

In District 4 -- which includes Forest Lawn -- there is a total of 100
officers to patrol the area 24-hours a day, seven days a week.

It's roughly the same as a zone in Oakridge or the
Hamptons.

This despite the fact the odds of a home being broken into in the
'Lawn are one-in-34, compared to Oakridge at one-in-209 or the
Hamptons at one-in-294.

The odds of running into a hooker in Hawkwood or a crackhead in Canyon
Meadows are almost non-existent.

Same can't be said of Forest Lawn.

The man in charge of District 4 says the Forest Lawn zone has the
highest call volume in the city.

He also says, that at present, it doesn't have the most number of
cops.

But Insp. Paul Manuel proudly rattles off stats of how roll jobs have
decreased 23%, commercial robberies have sunk 26% and assaults are
down marginally.

He talks about how a rezoning of District 4 will add 18 officers and
that will help address the problems in Forest Lawn -- but that won't
happen until next year.

All good news and I don't for a second question the officers'
commitment to cleansing Forest Lawn of all its human rubbish.

"The problem here is not as bad as it was last year and next year
it'll be even better," says Manuel.

He says the spirit of Forest Lawn residents to clean up the
neighbourhood is bolstering the police effort and cops take pride in
patrolling the hood.

But at the end of the day, a stroll through my old neighbourhood shows
the same crack-addled whores, drowsy drunks and fidgety freaks
standing at the same street corners.

Local Block Watch head Art Sheeler's just lost his third barbecue in
as many years to thieves.

Early yesterday, masked Neanderthals burst into the Legion armed with
bear spray, hammers and guns and forced a dozen elderly patrons onto
the floor while they robbed the place.

There's a mess in Forest Lawn.

Scumbags are drawn to it like fat kids to Smarties.

Enough baby steps.

Enough take back the streets marches and political
pontifications.

It's time to park the TAC-team on the corner and send a
message.

It's time to stage a very public police crackdown. Maybe even a strike
force.

Where there are more criminals, there should more cops.

Plain and simple.