Pubdate: Tue, 18 Oct 2005
Source: Province, The (CN BC)
Copyright: 2005 The Province
Contact:  http://www.canada.com/vancouver/theprovince/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/476
Author: Ethan Baron

CRIME RATE NEAR NATION'S WORST

Most Involves Drug Addicts And Vehicles

Vancouver's overall crime rate is nearly tied with Winnipeg for worst 
in Canada, and two-thirds of reported offences involve property 
crime, according to a Vancouver Board of Trade report.

"The quality of life in this city has gone down over the years, and a 
lot of it has to do with criminal activity and the disorder on the 
streets," Dave Park, the board's chief economist, said yesterday.

For Greater Vancouver, the property-crime rate is the worst of any 
major metropolitan region in Canada.

The study concluded that property crime cost $130 million in 
Vancouver last year, with residents hit for $108 million of the total.

About half of the property-crime losses involve thefts from vehicles, 
stolen vehicles and vehicle vandalism, costing about $69 million, the 
study found.

There's some good news: In Greater Vancouver, the property-crime rate 
dropped by four per cent last year; and in Vancouver, the rate 
dropped by 0.1 per cent.

Operation Co-operation, in which Vancouver police and security guards 
work together against property theft and chronic thieves, has met 
with success in downtown Vancouver, where theft from vehicles plunged 
by 40 per cent as of August 2004, with vehicle thefts plummeting by 
33 per cent for that same year-over-year period.

Vancouver police teamed up with Simon Fraser University 
criminologists to create a chronic-offender program.

"Eighty per cent of the crime is committed by about five per cent of 
the criminal population," said Vancouver police spokesman Const. Tim Fanning.

Police now monitor 80 people who have committed a dozen offences in 
as many months. Their reports to prosecutors include information such 
as a criminal's mental-health issues, learning disabilities and 
addiction problems.

"We can paint an accurate picture and try to get the resources that 
they need to get some help," Fanning said.

"What the police see is it's somebody that's poorly educated . . . 
doesn't have what most people are fortunate enough to have, which is 
a home, and support around them, and some future ahead of them, of 
living a good life."

But not every chronic offender is willing to participate in programs.

"If they're not going to take treatment, they have to go to jail," 
Fanning said. "Something's got to happen to break the cycle."

Block Watch has proved effective in combating crime, Fanning said.

"That's how we catch people when somebody's getting their house 
broken into . . . it's because the neighbour's paying attention."

With up to 90 per cent of property crime committed by drug addicts, 
more money needs to be spent on treatment, along with street-level 
intervention to prevent young people from becoming addicted, Park said.

The board of trade also wants to see more police, increased regional 
police co-operation, tougher sentencing, more prosecutors and chronic 
offenders kept in jail pending trials.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Elizabeth Wehrman