Pubdate: Wed, 20 Dec 2006
Source: Whitehorse Star (CN YK)
Copyright: 2006 Whitehorse Star
Contact:  http://www.whitehorsestar.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1493
Author: Stephanie Waddell

ANTI-CRIME STREET TEAM DRAWS PRAISE

The announcement of an RCMP street crime reduction team  is good news 
for the Whitehorse business community says  Rick Karp, president of 
the Whitehorse Chamber of  Commerce.

The Yukon government announced on Monday of last week  that it will 
provide the RCMP with $1.4 million over  three years to establish the team.

"What it means is that these additional police officers  will be 
exclusively dedicated to tackle crime hot spots  and prolific 
criminal offenders on our streets," Dave  Shewchuk, the RCMP's chief 
superintendent, said at the  news conference where the announcement was made.

The team will be made up of eight people -- six police  officers 
focused on enforcement and two civilians  working on intelligence 
analysis and communications.

Ultimately, they will be working to destroy the illegal  drug trade 
in the territory from people bringing drugs  into the territory to 
dealers. The initiative will also  deal with crimes related to drugs 
like theft and those  related to alcohol like bootlegging.

Any kind of strengthened RCMP presence tends to see the  number of 
crimes in that area go down. That will likely  mean a decrease in the 
number of crimes happening  against local businesses, Karp said, 
adding he looks  forward to seeing more officers on the street when 
the  initiative begins.

"We're really in support of that," he said. He added  his 
appreciation of the Yukon government in funding and  the local RCMP 
in establishing the team.

The initiative, though, has left Liberal and NDP  opposition members 
with some questions.

Both Liberal justice critic Don Inverarity and acting  NDP Leader 
Steve Cardiff agreed the initiative is a  positive step. However, 
they also suggested it's a  "pre-budget budget announcement" for next 
spring  because the program is not set to start until April,  roughly 
the time when the 2007 budget is tabled in the  legislature.

"It's kind of sad nothing's going to happen between now  and April," 
Cardiff said.

Inverarity said he'd like to see police start planning  for the 
initiative between now and April.

As Inverarity pointed out, the Yukon Party government  didn't seem to 
have any kind of answer when he asked  where the money will come from.

Inverarity suggested it should also go beyond dealing  with issues in 
Whitehorse and reach into the  communities.

"Otherwise, it's a great program," he said.

The initiative is part of the territorial government's  Substance 
Abuse Action Plan, falling under the  enforcement part of the project.

Enforcement initiatives are only one of four parts of  the plan 
though, Cardiff said. There has been no such  announcement on dealing 
with the other aspects of  education, treatment and harm reduction, he noted.

Although enforcement is important, statistics have  shown there tend 
to be better results on crime through  education, treatment and harm 
reduction rather than  enforcement, Cardiff said.

He hopes more initiatives will be announced to deal  with various 
aspects of the Substance Abuse Action  Plan.

While enforcement programs look good in the media,  Cardiff said, 
unfortunately it's education, harm  reduction and treatment that are 
effective in dealing  with crimes.

"It's got to be positive," Mayor Bev Buckway said Monday.

She pointed to the city's Citizens Survey done earlier  this year 
which showed residents have concerns about  drug crimes and break and enters.

Other results showed some residents don't feel safe  walking downtown.

Buckway acknowledged April may seem like a lot of time  to wait for 
the crime reduction team to get started.

However, she also noted that being in government, she  knows of the 
amount of time it can take to work out  budgets and programs for them 
to be done properly.

"Let's do it right," she said.
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MAP posted-by: Elaine