Pubdate: Thu, 28 Sep 2006
Source: Daily Herald-Tribune, The (CN AB)
Copyright: 2006 The Daily Herald-Tribune
Contact:  http://www.dailyheraldtribune.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/804
Author: Paul Fontaine, Herald-Tribune Staff

RCMP SEEKING MORE PUBLIC HELP TO DEAL WITH BOOMING DRUG TRADE

With a growing drug problem in Grande Prairie, police will be turning 
to the public more for help in solving - and reporting - drug cases, 
a local Mounties says.

Cpl. John Wilson said that with the changing landscape of the drug 
trade in Grande Prairie over the last 10 years, the RCMP see 
information from the public as one of their most valuable resources.

"The biggest resource out there for the police to combat the drug 
problem, not only in Grande Prairie but in any community, is the 
people within the community ... people providing the information," 
said Wilson, head of Grande Prairie RCMP's drug crimes unit.

A member of the local detachment since the late 1990s, Wilson said 
the drug problem here is as bad as he's ever seen it.

"This is the most we have seen ... but this is the most people I've 
seen in Grande Prairie too," he said. "Do I think the drug problem is 
greater than it was 10 years ago? I do."

Wilson said using public information isn't something new and the RCMP 
are always looking for more tips, which will hopefully lead to more 
arrests and drug seizures.

"The public knows a lot more information than what is being shared 
with us so we're looking for them to step up to the plate and assist 
with combatting the drug problem," he said.

Wilson said he would like Grande Prairie residents and visitors to 
take a proactive approach to help decrease the drug trade.

"If they see suspicious activity like people coming to a vehicle 
parked in a lot some place and people coming up and exchanging money 
and receiving packages - rather then turn their head we would ask 
that they call it in."

Wilson said the first step once police receive a call, even an 
anonymous one, is to try and confirm it.

He used the example of a caller reporting someone who is coming to 
the city with a large amount of drugs in their possession.

"Sometimes it is very successful, we've taken a lot of drugs off the 
street by calls like that. There's other calls that don't bear any 
fruit, we go and we just can't seem to corroborate it."

Wilson said it's not only the amount of drugs used and distributed 
the RCMP has to deal with, but also the variety of drugs produced.

Relatively new drugs like methamphetamines and new methods of use 
such as cocaine being smoked rather than just snorted, have come into 
being in the last 10 years.

Along with these changes there has also been changes with how drug 
dealers do business in Grande Prairie.

"It appears there are more groups that are coming to Grande Prairie.," he said.

DRUG TRADE BECOMING MOBILE

Wilson said these groups include organized crime groups and added the 
mobile nature of drug trade makes it harder to track.

"It used to be that people were selling from their house but now it 
seems that that's more infrequent. What I've seen is that groups now 
come in and do their operations from hotel rooms."

This method is referred to by the RCMP as a "dial-a-dope operation," 
where people make calls to cellphones and in a group show up, make a 
meet, sell their drugs and then leave.

RCMP have had to tailor their drug investigations to adapt to these changes.

"It makes it a little more difficult because you're not dealing with 
one house that will be staying there for an extended period of time, 
you're dealing with people who are coming into Grande Prairie for the 
weekend with their cocaine, run around, sell their dope and away they go."

Wilson said members of the public sometimes have the most valuable knowledge.

"There's a lot of dealers out there and there's people that know that 
they deal."

He said the more eyes and ears on the street the police have, the 
better chance they have of getting rid of the dealers.
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MAP posted-by: Elaine