PICKETING AREA DRUG HOUSES ILL ADVISED

Orchard Avenue area residents are considering setting up a neighbourhood
watch and picketing suspected drug houses in their fight against crime in
their neighbourhood.

"We just want to say drugs are not welcome in this neighbourhood," said
resident Jeff Nielson after a town-hall meeting at the Penticton Library
auditorium last week drew about 50 people concerned with crime in Penticton.

It was the third in a series of meetings under the slogan, Justice for
Victims, Punishment for Criminals.

Local MP Stockwell Day, Mayor Mike Pearce, councillors Gus Boersma and Dave
Perry, crime prevention officer Al Sismey and Penticton RCMP Staff-Sgt.
Pete McLaren also attended.

Sismey and McLaren suggested a number of options to reduce crime in the
Orchard Avenue neighbourhood.

Chief among them was setting up a neighbourhood watch.

"It doesn't have to be 100 people. It could be six people," Sismey said.
But he warned against other suggested options such as picketing the homes
of drug dealers.

"You have to remember that when you take stands against these people, that
they are not nice people. There could be retaliation."

McLaren also defended the local RCMP force against crowd suggestions that
they do not respond quickly enough to complaints about suspected crimes
involving marijuana.

"We're interested in all the different types of drug, but our priorities
have to be centred on the drugs that are causing us the most problems:
cocaine and heroin," he said. "If we've got a house selling marijuana, that
is not high on the priority list."

McLaren also dismissed comments from one man who said the RCMP is no longer
the force it was decades ago.

McLaren said he is "proud to wear this uniform."

"The vast majority of members who work for me are trying to do the best job
day-to-day," he said.

McLaren also pointed out that Penticton's crime rate is lower than that of
Vernon, a community of comparable size.

"We have less violent crime than Vernon, and less property crime than
Vernon," he said.

Another point of discussion was the Young Offenders' Act, which continues
to undergo revisions.

Day used this opportunity to slam the federal Liberals' approach to crime.

"Basically, the philosophy of the federal government tends to put more
emphasis on the rights of criminals than it does on the rights of
law-abiding citizens," Day said. "It is as simple as that."

Unless the federal government gets tougher, groups such as the Orchard
Avenue residents will continue to feel frustrated, he said.

"I'm not talking about inhumanity here," he said. "But I am talking about a
change in approach at the federal level that will assist mayors,
councillors and parents all the way down the line."

Proper intervention at the right time can spare a young person a life of
crime, he said.

"If that doesn't work, then the system and society has to get very, very
serious." Those who advocate boot camps risk look like Neanderthals, he
said. "But in some cases, they do work," he said. Pearce said crime
prevention begins at home with parents taking control of their kids.

Pearce also talked about installing video surveillance cameras in downtown
Penticton.

"I would be interested in looking at cameras," he said. "But they are
costly and there are legal questions (about their use)."

But if people want to see a drop in crime, they must take the first step,
said Sismey. "When people see that a community ties together, it is a huge
deterrent for crime."