Pubdate: Tue, 04 Oct 2005
Source: Ashcroft Cache Creek Journal, The (CN BC)
Copyright: 2005 Ashcroft Cache Creek Journal
Contact:  http://www.ash-cache-journal.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3157
Author: Jeff Nagel
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Cannabis - Canada)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)

COMMUNITIES WANT ACTION ON CRIME

VANCOUVER - Mayors and councillors pressed provincial cabinet ministers 
Wednesday to explain why B.C. has been so slow to hit criminals in their 
wallets by seizing illegally acquired property.

"We're not tough enough on major criminals," Courtenay councillor Larry 
Jangula told a public safety panel discussion during the Union of B.C. 
Municipalities convention.

He pointed to crystal meth lab operators in particular.

"These people have the ability to seriously damage people forever," Jangula 
said. "We never hear of maximum sentences. It's common knowledge all across 
North america that B.C. is the softest on all drug offences that there is."

Jangula noted existing federal law regulating seized criminal assets has a 
major loophole.

"The lawyers have first crack at getting whatever money comes out of that 
and often there's nothing left over," he said.

Attorney-General Wally Oppal confirmed the Criminal Code "for some reason" 
lets the accused and their lawyers apply to use the assets for reasonable 
legal and living expenses. But he said the province has introduced its own 
Civil Forfeiture Act to short-circuit that provision and bar criminals and 
lawyers from tapping the money.

Instead it will go to crime prevention and victim assistance.

"The best way to deal with drug dealers is to seize their assets," Oppal 
said. "Some of us have been saying that for years. This government listened 
to that and responded to that."

The bill hasn't yet become law and Victoria is carefully watching the 
status of a similar Ontario law to see if it survives legal challenges.

Solicitor General John Les applauded local bylaws in Surrey and Abbotsford 
that have proved an effective means for shutting down marijuana grow-ops. 
Local authorities post inspection notices on suspected grow houses, often 
forcing cultivators to quickly move and home owners to undergo expensive 
renovations.

"The objective here is to hit them in their pocketbook," Les said, adding 
the technique doesn't usually yield charges.

"It means for a lot of these people, crime isn't going to pay any more."

Oppal also found himself under attack for the B.C. Liberal government's 
move in its previous term to shut down courthouses as a cost-saving 
measure. Councillors from Sidney and Langley said their citizens, and in 
some cases their police officers, spend too much time commuting to distant 
court houses since closures in their communities.

Sidney councillor Tim Chad said police in his area "find themselves down in 
Victoria wandering around halls twiddling their thumbs waiting for their 
cases to be brought up when they could be in our communities 20 minutes away."

Oppal promised to meet to hear the concerns in detail.
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MAP posted-by: Jo-D