PATROLLING 'THE STRIP'

The three Mounties haven't been out of the District 1 RCMP office five
minutes, and already, they're hustling towards a young woman on 135A St.
who has abruptly bolted from a trio of suspected crack smokers.

"She's dumping it, she's dumping it," Cpl. Dale Carr warns Const. Wendy
Mehat, who is pulling on thick black gloves and quick-stepping towards the
dark-haired woman in the camouflage tank top and shorts.

The woman, zipping up her backpack, begins shaking her head as Mehat
questions her, with Carr and Const. Philippe Forest picking through the
gravel in search of discarded drugs.

"Unfortunately, crack looks just like this," Carr says, kicking at the
small rocks. "We're not gonna find anything."

After writing down the woman's "tombstone" info -- name, date of birth,
etc. -- the officers, members of Surrey's only foot patrol, resume walking
the beat, which stretches between 104-108 Avenues and East and West Whalley
Ring Road.

"Hi Tammy," Mehat calls out to a blonde-wigged woman erratically riding a
bicycle. "Where's your helmet? You should be wearing a helmet."

The officers are on a first-name basis with most of the regulars, who know
that if they aren't honest with these young, street-smart Mounties, it's
"game on" -- a term that means any opportunity for a break has just gone
into the dumpster.

That concept is quickly communicated to an unkempt man sitting bleary-eyed
in the brush near The Front Room shelter. While his companions know the
drill, emptying their pockets and politely answering police questions, he's
adamant nothing untoward is going on, and becomes combative with Mehat, who
handcuffs him in short order.

"Why are you doing that?" the man asks angrily.

"Because you're lying to me, that's why," Mehat snaps.

Her suspicions are proven correct when she finds the man is carrying more
than 20 rocks of crack cocaine worth $20-$40 apiece and a large amount of
cash. He is later charged with possession for the purpose of trafficking.

Despite holding positions that require subjective skills (intuition,
compassion, and "an ability to weed through the bull---t"), and have high
levels of burnout (Carr says after about two years on the beat, most cops
are ready to move on), foot patrol members are often the subjects of
ribbing from their peers.

"We're looked at as 'doing nothing,' just out for a stroll each shift,"
says Carr.

But the four men and two women who make up the Whalley foot patrol
(Constables Mitch Lal, Jim Barr, Craig Van Herk, Danell Farmer, and Forest
and Mehat) are making a difference in the city's most troublesome area.

"I'm seeing fantastic results," Carr says. "I'm a very lucky supervisor,
because these guys are doing a lot of great work." Area merchants agree.

Howlett Raie, pool supervisor at the North Surrey Rec Centre, which lies at
the south end of the beat, has seen "amazing" results since redesigning the
centre's outer concourse on the advice of foot patrol members.

With marijuana replacing crack as the drug of choice for dealers around the
Surrey Central SkyTrain station, police were busting as many as 20 people a
day. Dealers were stashing drugs in nearby bushes (even hiding them under
freshly laid grass sod) and families felt uneasy trying to access the rec
centre.

Different fencing and lighting, and moving the former outside washroom
inside the rec centre, has resulted in a return of patrons, and a reduction
in pushers.

Similarly, at Naburn Auto Body near Tom Binney Park, an unpatrolled lot
filled with cars used for parts had encouraged a squatters' camp to sprout
- -- the vehicles filled each morning with needles, condoms and once, a
kitten and milk.

When Carr suggested the owner move the cars, the problem solved itself.

It's easy to see why creative solutions such as these please business
owners, but even the criminals have good things to say. The beat cops "have
become quite famous as it were with the street people in the downtown
core," says Surrey RCMP Const. Tim Shields. "In conjunction with (their)
hard-core policing, there is the humanitarian aspect... in the assistance
they provide to people who are willing to change their lifestyles."

In particular, a trio of drug addicts -- Catherine, Martin and Jerry -- say
Constables Mitch Lal and Jim Barr helped them reclaim sober lives.

"They have all now, with the help of these two members, contacted their
parents/relatives and are all off The Strip and have returned to the
Interior where their families are," Shields says.

While testimonies like that are rewarding, sadly they are outnumbered by
the unflagging fallout of substance abuse. Scenes such as these are abundant:

In the bushes near Sunrise Pavilion seniors' centre (where a strolling Carr
is greeted with applause by lunching seniors), a decrepit "campground,"
complete with litter and spent spray cans, used for sniffing or graffiti...

On the grounds of a bleak, dilapidated shack -- a stark contrast to the
well-groomed, colourful gardens of the neighbouring St. Mary's Ukrainian
Greek Orthodox Church -- broken crack pipes, charred by repeated use...

Along the King George, a stoned bike rider (associate of the guy busted
earlier for trafficking), sputtering excuses about why he's still there
when 15 minutes earlier, he promised Carr he would leave...

And to Carr's dismay, the growing numbers of people -- alarmingly, many in
their 30s the first time they use -- getting hooked on drugs, the root
cause of this area's problems.

Whalley foot patrol members are engaged in a never-ending law enforcement
version of hide-and-seek. Most of the charges they lay relate to drug
possession and trafficking, and "no-goes," breach of probation violations.
For stubborn repeat offenders, more "trivial" charges, such as riding a
bike without a helmet and jaywalking, are used too, in an effort to make
The Strip an unwelcome destination.

Anything to keep the pressure on and the Mounties' presence felt.

"Is there a better way of doing things? I don't know," Carr says, back at
the District 1 office. "We just go out there and do what we can each day.

"You extend your hand to everyone and get slapped more times than not. But
you feel good when you make a difference."

Postscript: Since this interview was conducted, Cpl. Dale Carr has taken
the position of media spokesman for the Langley RCMP. Cpl. Sean Maloney is
now head of the Whalley foot patrol.

In addition, Const. Mitch Lal and Const. Phillipe Forest have moved to
other departments. Carr says the vacancies should be filled soon.