RCMP TACTICS APPLAUDED

City councillor Brian Given on Monday praised the job Kelowna RCMP
have been doing lately targeting so-called drug houses but said the
police need to improve the response time to tips from the public.

"There's some frustration there," said Given, who added he had heard
from several constituents on this issue.

"People will identify a house to the police but then it will take
considerable time between the complaint and something being done about
it. The frustration is over what they see as inaction."

Insp. Cam Forgues was on hand to present a monthly crime report to
council, defended the RCMP's response time to the complaints.

"It takes time to investigate the complaint, get a search warrant, and
so on," he said. "It can be very time-consuming."

Forgues also told council that police also have to ascertain whether
the complaint is legitimate.

"We get complaints about people smoking pot in their houses," he
said.

"We can't do much with that."

Still, Forgues encouraged residents to continue calling in their tips.
"Phone us, tell us the information you have such as addresses and
license plate numbers, and we'll follow it up," the inspector said,
adding a word of caution.

"We're not asking anyone to get involved beyond that.

"That's our job. It's too dangerous. Give us the intelligence and
we'll take it from there."

Forbes told council the Central Okanagan Crime Stoppers continues to
be an effective tool against drug houses and other crime.

He said the program received 259 tips from January to April 2007,
including those that allowed RCMP to recover almost $5 million of
controlled substances such as marijuana and cocaine.

They also made 39 arrests, cleared 57 cases, gave out 24 awards for
tips, arrested 19 people on outstanding warrants and recovered almost
$150,000 in stolen property.