CITY COUNCIL NIXES POLICE CALL FOR MORE TROOPS

Like U.S. Marines in Baghdad, the Vancouver Police Department has vowed to
take back the inner city one block at a time if necessary--but city council
isn't backing them with the necessary funds.

In November, the VPD began deploying a minimum of two officers to the
corner of Main and Hastings, nearby the Carnegie community centre--24 hours
a day, seven days a week--to deter the open use and trafficking of crack
and heroin at the city's most notorious open drug markets.

So far, "Operation 24/7" has gone according to plan: the 100 or so regulars
who used to loiter in front of Carnegie have decamped. Although police
admit the problem has shifted a few blocks west to Columbia Street, VPD
spokesperson Const. Sarah Bloor says the increased police presence has
reduced the numbers of those involved in the open-air drug trade. "A number
of people have left the area completely," Bloor said.

Still, in order to clean up the hardscrabble neighbourhood, the VPD
understands it will have to monitor the movement of the drug trade while
still maintaining a presence at Main and Hastings. Reclaim a block, keep
it, claim the next. And that will take more men and women in black.

"One of the tactics we would employ to affect this open drug market would
be an expansion of (the Carnegie) project," stated Chief Constable Jamie
Graham in a report submitted to council March 27 asking city hall for $2.3
million (44 more officers) to help fund the cost of a new "city-wide
enforcement team" to deal with the drug problem. But following a heated
protest by some members of the Downtown Eastside at the regular council
meeting Tuesday, the city unanimously denied the backing, and is waiting
for the go-ahead for Canada's first safe injection site to open.

The operation focuses on disrupting the open drug market and interrupting
the cycle of crime and drug use that has turned the streets of the Downtown
Eastside into a drug warzone, says Graham.

Already, Operation 24/7 has reclaimed the neighbourhood's community centre.

"We've had people we haven't seen in a while, especially older folks and
people who bring kids," said Dan Tetrault, assistant director at the centre.

"It has made the centre more accessible."

Not everyone is pleased by the operation, though.

"What has it accomplished? It's just moved the whole drug trade 90 feet
down the street," said John Richardson, executive director of the Pivot Law
Society. "It's probably had a negative impact. It's moved people farther
away from the needle exchange program."

And if it takes six officers to claim a city block, at an average cost of
$70,000 per officer, Richardson believes the price tag is far too high.

"It's like a waterbed; you push down in one place and it will spring up
somewhere else."

Vancouver community AIDS organizations have cited fears of increased
transmission of HIV with increased police presence around the Downtown
Eastside.

"Operation 24/7 is a prime example of the limited, and often negative
aspects of enforcement," said Malsah, acting chair of BC Persons With AIDS
Society (BCPWA).

"All they've done is displace drug users two blocks closer to the tourist
area of Gastown, and scared addicts in desperate need of sterile syringes
away from the needle exchange."