SERIES: MORE COPS DEAL WITH DOWNTOWN TROUBLES

Editor's note: This is the second installment of a four-part series on
downtown Abbotsford.

Nothing scatters Pauline Street pedestrian traffic or automobile
trollers like the sudden arrival of two police cruisers and the sight
of four blue-clad police officers walking along the sidewalk.

In fact, when Abbotsford police officers arrived at the intersection
of Pauline and Homeview streets Wednesday to survey the area and
discuss the local sex trade, hookers and johns fled the neighbourhood
block like pigeons flying from energetic kids.

The practice is so effective, police have decided to employ it as its
next weapon to combat the downtown core's drug and crime problems.

After promoting crime-free housing and hooker sting projects the past
couple of years, the local force announced this week it will dedicate
five patrol officers to walking the downtown beat.

"Beat staff, initially, will be almost exclusively afternoon and night
shifts," explained Sgt. Tom Chesley who is overseeing the APD's plan
for Abbotsford's historic downtown core. "They will only be working
the Downtown core. It's going to be a matter of getting out of the
car."

The new five-member beat team - a throwback to the 1950s and an
effective tool used elsewhere - is a six-month pilot project that
starts Feb. 27 and will work often with members of the Abbotsford
Police Department's bike squad.

"We've identified chronic criminal properties . . . whether they're
housing criminals or conducting criminal acts," Const. Denys Scully
said.

He said the police are talking with property owners about trimming
trees, cleaning up their surroundings or doing whatever they can to
try to eliminate "grime and crime."

But another of the program's key components, Scully said, was to build
relationships with the women working the streets

"You have to walk that fine line," he said, referring to the
differenece between enforcing the law and recognizing the women are
victims.

Uultsje De Jong, chairman of the Abbotsford Detoxification and
Rehabilitation Committee, said police are doing a great job but have
simply been overwhelmed by the rapid growth rate of Abbotsford's drug
problem plus the crime and prostitution that comes with it.

"We have the lowest number of officers per capita of any municipality
around here," De Jong offered. "Their hands are tied by either the
justice system or the city council."

That's not good, he said, because drug-addicted men steal to maintain
their habits while women turn tricks.

In 2001, the number of break-and-enters that occurred in Abbotsford
jumped from 1,260 the previous year to 1,577 (a 25 per cent increase)
while robberies spiked from 83 to 124 (a 49 per cent increase) and
motor vehicle thefts nearly doubled from 660 in Year 2000 to 1,137 in
2001.

The number of hookers walking downtown streets has multiplied from
five to 40.

The APD knows this all too well.

"We're not just sort of knee-jerking on this," Chesley said. "This has
been in the works for several months. We've identified this as our
primary problem."

The beat cops, he said, will look to lower the crime rate - make
arrests for drug use, drunk and disorderly conduct and other street
crimes - that are a byproduct of several drinking establishments in
one area and what police call the "Dial-A-Dope" service where dealers
armed with cellphones and cars make drug deliveries.

"For the last year we've been focussed on the historical Downtown core
because it's been our main concern," Chesley explained.

"Rather than looking at downtown as a crime problem, we look at it as
a bigger picture with crime being part of the problem."

Recognizing that Abbotsford's core was deteriorating, Chesley and
Scully started looking for solutions.

"I've done a lot of research on the bigger picture to see what other
cities around the world were doing to combat street prostitution,
street crime and drug use," Scully said.

He's analysed problems and solutions from problem areas such as
Tacoma, Chicago, Vancouver and New Westminster.

He and Chesley said a combination of increased enforcement,
relationship building, community cooperation - from government
agencies and businesses alike - and proactive crime preventative urban
design are key components to any successful plan.

"One of the things our management wanted to stress is this is a
cooperative effort," Chesley said.