CRACK COCAINE PLAGUES POLICE

The people who keep stats for the RCMP thought Sgt. Don Fisher was
making mistakes in the way he reported serious assaults.

But it was no mistake, assaults are up in Hay River.

Fisher cautions that it's no reason for alarm - yet.

"We're not talking hundreds of cases of increase," he said, tempering
his speech.

"There is a marked increase."

He says the increase in assaults can be traced fairly directly to an
increase in the use of crack cocaine in Hay River.

"Cocaine is not a drug to dabble in, a social drug like it was in the
70s and 80s. The drug has changed and it's dangerous to the
community," he told a Chamber of Commerce gathering Friday.

He said his detachment plans to attack the problem from two sides,
with increased enforcement and proactive youth education.

While Fisher has been asked by his superiors to cut his budget by 12
to 15 per cent, he has put in a request to have the Hay River
detachment's staffing complement increased. It has been historically
been larger than the eight members it has now.

He says that without an increase in staff, he may not be able to meet
the security needs of the community as it grows due to pipeline
development.