Pubdate: Fri, 17 Sep 2004 Source: Province, The (CN BC) Copyright: 2004 The Province Contact: http://www.canada.com/vancouver/theprovince/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/476 Author: John Bermingham - with a file from Matthew Ramsey Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Cannabis - Canada) PUSHED-OUT PUSHERS PLAGUE MT. PLEASANT Vancouver's volunteer crimefighters say they're swamped by complaints of drug dealers spreading from the Downtown Eastside to other parts of the city. The situation is especially bad in Mount Pleasant, where crack dealers, hookers and vagrants have taken over the Broadway strip at Fraser. Bob Whitely, a senior who runs the South Vancouver community policing centre, said he's getting 800 phone complaints a month, up a third from last year. "The Downtown Eastside crackdown has moved a lot of the crime from the Downtown Eastside into the suburbs," he said yesterday, after pleading his case to city council. In Mount Pleasant, Whitely says the area is rife with drug dealing, prostitution, panhandling and homelessness. His centre has about 250 volunteers but only one police officer to follow up complaints. That officer, Const. Mark Jarvie, said the small office in a shopping complex on Victoria Drive has seen the volume of complaint calls, reports and citizen walk-ins double over the past 18 months. Businesses complain about phone booths being used to arrange drug deals, while residents complain about prostitutes and brothels, Jarvie said. Police move the dealers on, only to have them find a new booth and eventually return to the original problem area, he said. The volunteers, who range in age from 17 to 90, scramble to keep up, as do police. "We're community complaint driven. Whoever screams the loudest, we respond," Jarvie said. "The squeaky wheel gets the grease." Last year, Vancouver police slashed the number of community policing centres from 14 to eight owing to a funding crunch caused by the B.C. government cutting its contribution. For the South Vancouver policing centre, that meant its area of responsibility effectively doubled overnight. Where once there were four such offices in southeast Vancouver, there are now only two -- in South Vancouver and Grandview. Whitely said the area under his watch has grown threefold while funding has been slashed by 40 per cent. "We are concerned about this," said Mayor Larry Campbell, who chairs the Vancouver Police Board. Community policing centres "are really stretched to the limit because they have, in fact, taken on other areas outside of their boundaries." Acting police chief Bob Rich agreed the police crackdown in the Downtown Eastside "certainly did create some issues for other parts of the city." Chris Taulu, who runs the Collingwood policing centre, which includes Commercial Drive, said that when she arrives for work at 8 a.m., people are lining up to complain. "My cellphone is on 24/7 and it rings 24/7," she said. One of those recent calls was from a woman complaining about a dodgy house in her neighbourhood. A cop on the beat checked it out, leading to a huge marijuana bust. Councillors asked why the B.C. government had not honoured its promise to give the community policing centres a slice of traffic-fine revenues. Most of the centres rely on gaming revenue to stay open, and some even raise money through raffles, garage sales and sale of chocolates. - --- MAP posted-by: Derek