DRUG LORDS WILL PAY!

Cops Promise to Target the Crime Bosses

Edmonton's gang- and drug-related killings won't end without a
co-ordinated approach from cops across Alberta to take out top
organized-crime bosses, says the deputy police chief. And those cops
are coming, Mike Bradsaw warns.

"We're going to target the tops of these organizations, so that's like
cutting the head off the serpent, hopefully. But at the same time,
we've got to be nibbling away at the tail."

Police will target those key players through a provincial anti-gang
group, while supporting efforts to curb gang recruitment and prevent
drug use.

"We will make a dent," Bradshaw vows. "Some of those people are going
to get a rude awakening one of these days when they find that the
police are knocking on their doors, because as yet they've remained
unscathed, untouched, but their time's coming."

Gangs have changed "quite dramatically" in Edmonton since the 1990s -
they are now much more structured and organized to insulate their top
criminal "businessmen" from police, said Bradshaw.

"I guess the more pressure the police put on gangs, the greater need
for them to become organized to counteract some of the work we're
doing - they're using much of the technology that we're using."

But police will keep up that pressure, said Bradshaw, who's still
backing a recent message from Mayor Bill Smith urging the public to
help crack down on drugs, including marijuana, which fund gang activity.

"We're asking every citizen to be somewhat responsible for the law and
order in their communities, and if it means turning in a criminal, I
think that's everyone's responsibility."

That doesn't mean bringing down "the axe" on someone caught once with
a joint, "but there comes a time that everyone has to realize ... that
single joint is fuelling organized crime," Bradshaw said.

University of Alberta law professor Sanjeev Anand warns that
Edmontonians had better be cautious about heeding the mayor's recent
advice to launch a "war on drugs."

Smith's hard line on drugs such as marijuana might do more to help
gangs than to hurt them.

"It drives prices up and creates a market (for gangs)," Anand said.
"If you really want to dry up organized crime, take away their revenue
source."

Tax money is better spent focusing on high-level gang leaders through
undercover police operations than on prosecuting small-time offenders,
Anand said.

"I don't want to pay for a small-level trafficker to be housed in the
penitentiary," he said. "The resources have to be taken from
somewhere, and it may result in fewer resources available for a
dangerous-offender hearing for a serial rapist, for example."