UNIT'S PRICE TAG IN THE MILLIONS

If crime doesn't pay, it certainly does cost.

Alberta Solicitor General Heather Forsyth announced $3.5 million in
funding earlier this year to get the new Integrated Response to
Organized Crime unit off the ground.

And, Forsyth said, the province will spend $5.1 million on the IROC
next year and $5.2 million in 2005.

"We stole what has been working well across the country and put
together what we consider to be a very innovative team which is going
to attack organized crime," Forsyth said.

New Funding

"This is new funding. They will be up and running in late December,
early January."

Team leader Joe Loran, an RCMP inspector, says the money and the
long-term commitment to fight gangs made recruiting for the IROC a
pleasure. The unit received far more applications than there were
positions available and has drawn investigators from the RCMP and
major Alberta municipal forces.

Recruiters sought people with a broad set of law enforcement skills to
tackle different aspects of organized crime.

"Drug skill sets. Major crimes skill sets, commercial crime and money
laundering. Customs and excise. Basic strong investigators. People
with wiretap experience. People with undercover experience," Loran
says.

Talented Individuals

"It has allowed us to attract some very talented individuals from
different policing environments."

As the IROC unit prepares for action, Loran says members of the
plainclothes teams are eager and confident. But he says they are also
under no illusions.

"Can we eradicate organized crime? No. For every group we dismantle it
creates a vacuum for another group to fill.

"Does that mean we are fighting a fruitless battle? Absolutely not. We
make it more and more difficult for them every time we disrupt or
dismantle one of them."