STELMACH TALKS TOUGH ON CRIME

Crime fighting has factored prominently on the list of discussion for
both federal and provincial politicians who have made recent visits
to the Border City.

Crime fighting has factored prominently on the list of discussion for
both federal and provincial politicians who have made recent visits
to the Border City.

In his visit to the city last week, Premier Ed Stelmach addressed the
increase of crime.

"Lately, there has been just senseless acts of violence and a
complete lack of respect for life (and) for authority," he said.

In their address on Tuesday afternoon, local MPs Gerry Ritz and Leon
Benoit said the federal government is doing its part in fighting
crime by allotting $161 million in the 2007 budget to recruit 1,000
new RCMP officers.

Sgt. Ken Marchand of the Lloydminster RCMP said the detachment will
soon receive an addition of two plain-clothes officers, which he
hopes will allow them to clamp down on drug-related crime.

"When the smoke clears this summer we'll be 31 enforcement officers
in a city of 25,000, which is going to be within specs for cities of
this size," he said.

Both police and government officials agree that a new approach is
needed to effectively combat crime.

Stelmach outlined the creation of a Safer Communities Task Force, a
new initiative in which a panel of experts in criminal justice, law,
and community-based prevention will travel the province to gather
input from Albertans. They will compile the input gathered this
spring and present a report to the Minister of Justice this summer.

The task force will focus on how communities can play a more active
role in crime prevention, said David Dear, communications spokesman
for Alberta Justice, saying the government wants to move beyond the
traditional approach of simply hiring more police officers, judges,
and prosecutors.

"We've been doing that but we need to do more," he said. "That's what
this task force is hoping to get from people."

The government hopes the final report will form a strong part of a
larger crime reduction strategy, which will be community and prevention based.

"What we want to get at with the task force is solutions from
Albertans at the grass roots level," said Dear. "To try to prevent
crime -- not just address it once it's happened -- but prevent it."

Marchand said local police support the viewpoint that crime fighting
has to be a responsibility of everyone in the community.

"What we need, and we've seen with the Lloydminster Area Drug
Strategy, is community involvement," he said. "Everyone has a job
part-time what we do full-time."

Police can't stop all the crime happening in the city without the
assistance from the community, he said. Whether it be employers
witnessing drug abuse by employees or parents who know their children
doing drugs or drinking, everyone has an obligation to help stop
illegal activity, he said.