CHILLIWACK 'VISIONARY' IN ITS FIGHT ON CRIME

B.C. is on the leading edge of combating crime, from petty
break-and-enters to murderers and sex offenders, B.C.
Solicitor-General Rich Coleman told a Chamber of Commerce meeting in
Chilliwack yesterday.

And he called Chilliwack Mayor Clint Hames a "visionary" among B.C.
mayors for supporting the new integrated policing measures being
introduced in this province.

He also praised the city's plan to submit a victim's impact statement
in court cases involving marijuana grow-ops.

"The more understanding we have at the court level of how these things
are affecting our communities," he said, "the more we're going to get
results ... like stiffer penalties."

Legalizing the lucrative marijuana industry, as suggested by some to
make it less attractive to organized crime, is not an option in Canada
because 80 percent is exported to the U.S. where it will likely remain
illegal, he said.

"We want to be able to push back (against illegal grow-ops)," he said,
so the province "isn't a pleasant place to do business" for organized
crime.

One way to do that is legislation being considered by the province
that will allow authorities to conduct financial audits of suspected
criminals and seize their assets, if they can't prove they were
obtained legally.

Another crime-fighting tool is B.C.'s concept of integrated policing,
electronically linking all police agencies in B.C. to share
information on a real-time basis.

The $20-million system in B.C., the first in North America, will allow
police to enter crime information in one jurisdiction and it
immediately becomes available to police in all other areas of the province.

Mr. Coleman said the system has already taken sex offenders off the
street, helped recover stolen items hours after a break-in, and could
save lives as information on court restraining orders is also entered
in the system, giving police the ability to stop domestic assaults
before they happen.

But it is the rising tide of petty crimes "that really worries me," he
said.

"If we as a society start saying it's acceptable to break the law,
that we can't do anything about it ... we need to push back," he said,
and urged everyone to speak out publicly against "soft" laws in order
to support the province's demand in Ottawa for tougher penalties.