DRUGS FOCUS OF SPECIAL UNIT

Kamloops could see the addition next year of up to seven police officers in a
unit designed in part to target drugs.

The proposal is one being pushed by the RCMP's Southeast District Office which
overseas operations throughout the southeast corner of the province.

"Grow-ops are a huge issue throughout the province and most certainly in the
Southeast District. That needs focused attention," says Supt. Sam MacLeod, the
officer in charge of the Southeast District Office, headquartered in Kelowna.

He's submitted a proposal which would see the creation of a 21-member joint
general investigation-street level drug enforcement team with officers split
evenly between Kamloops, Kelowna and the Kootenays.

These would be new positions funded between the provincial and federal
governments.

While the proposal has been approved by the RCMP's "E" Division, it's now
waiting upon the acceptance of Victoria.

"It really depends on what the provincial government can afford for new
resources," says MacLeod, who adds the unit could start small and grow as
funding permits.

The Southeast District Major Crimes Unit traditionally looked after
investigations that overlapped jurisdictions, such as large, organized
marijuana grow operations and fraud cases involving travelling criminals.

But with the reorganization of that already heavily burdened unit last year
with greater focus on crimes such as homicides and suspicious missing person
cases, MacLeod says a gap has resulted.