MIXED REACTION ON GRANVILLE STREET TO FIRINGS

Jacob Johnson has no sympathy for the two Vancouver cops fired
Wednesday for their roles in the beatings of three suspected drug
dealers in Stanley Park last January.

In fact, Johnson, who runs a tattoo shop on the strip of Granville
where the victims were picked up by police, believes all six cops
involved in the Jan. 14, 2003 incident should be fired.

Though he's witnessed crack addicts smoking in front of his store,
Johnson doesn't believe punching drug addicts and hitting them with a
baton-as occurred in the Stanley Park incident-will change their behaviour.

"There's no way cops should behave that way, ever," said the manager
of Next! Body Piercing and Tattooing at 1068 Granville St. "I'm
surprised [the chief] only suspended the others. They were there,
they're police officers, they should have stopped them, but they didn't."

Johnson was reacting to Chief Constable Jamie Graham's decision
Wednesday to fire constables Duncan Gemmell and Gabriel Kojima.

Calling it the most difficult decision of his 35-year policing career,
Graham also suspended for 20 days-without pay-constables Raymond
Gardner, Brandon Steele, James Kenney and Christopher Cronmiller.

"I have taken into consideration in making these decisions that all
six officers have apologized to the men they arrested, also to their
fellow officers within the department, the Vancouver police itself and
to the citizens of Vancouver," Graham said at a packed news conference
at the Cambie Street police station.

The suspended constables have also been demoted by one rank, resulting
in a loss of pay of $3,700 to $5,000 a year, according to Deputy Chief
Bob Rich. At Granville Sports Corner, manager Laura Neumueller agreed
with Johnson, saying it didn't matter whether some cops stood by while
others delivered the beatings on Jason Desjardins, Barry Lawrie and
Grant Wilson.

"If you're driving the getaway car in a robbery or a murder, you still
get into trouble," Neumueller said. "So if you're part of it, you
should all get the same punishment."

But at Dunne and Rundle, a photography store at 891 Granville St.,
manager Linda Newcombe believes Gemmell and Kojima should only have
received three-month suspensions.

Newcombe said she could understand what led to the assaults in Stanley
Park, after witnessing the drug dealing in front of her store, and
seeing dealers return to the street only a few hours after they're
arrested.

"I think what they did was wrong, but I can so see where they were
coming from. You see the same people getting arrested always coming
back-it's a revolving door."

Lawyer Phil Rankin, acting on behalf of the three victims, said he
wasn't surprised Kojima and Gemmell were fired but has mixed feelings
about cops losing their jobs for something that he sees as widespread
in the force.

"Obviously, my clients would like to see somebody fired for what
happened to them, but I was of a mixed opinion because, frankly, I
think there's too much force used a lot of time by a lot of police
officers," Rankin said. "I never did see this as a rotten group of
apples. I saw it as a culture of being violent when they can get away
with it."

Rankin said more services for addicts and preventative education are
needed to keep people like his clients-who have about 100 criminal
convictions between them-off the street.

Rankin is seeking roughly $45,000 for each of his clients in a civil
suit against the police department.

Gemmell and Kojima can appeal the chief's decision, asking the police
complaints commissioner for a public hearing, but have yet to decide
what course of action to take, said Tom Stamatakis, president of the
Vancouver police union.