Pubdate: Fri, 31 Aug 2007 Source: Vancouver Courier (CN BC) Copyright: 2007 Vancouver Courier Contact: http://www.vancourier.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/474 Author: Mike Howell, Vancouver Courier Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/heroin.htm (Heroin) ADDICTS KEEPING LOSS PREVENTION OFFICERS BUSY Of 768 Arrests Over -Month Period For Theft, Robbery And Pickpocketing, Most Were Drug-Related A team of Downtown Vancouver Business Improvement Association loss prevention officers has discovered there is no shortage of drug-addicted criminals operating in downtown. From October 2005 to May 2007, the association's six officers arrested or helped arrest 768 people committing a variety of crimes, including car theft, robbery and pickpocketing. Of the 768 suspects, almost 500 were crack cocaine users and another 130 were using heroin, according to statistics collected by the officers, who have citizen arrest powers. Recently, loss prevention officers helped nab a suspect in a high-profile robbery and assault of an elderly man inside a downtown church. The officers can arrest a person committing an indictable offence but have no authority under the Criminal Code to hold a person wanted on a warrant, said Dave Jones, the association's director of crime prevention services. Jones said the crime statistics and their connection to drugs shows the need for a better way to tackle the city's drug problem. "We're kind of holding our breath here that the community court will be resourced properly and there will be sentencing options for the judge to make some differences in these lives," Jones said. The community court is expected to open before the end of the year on Main Street and cater to offenders in the Downtown Eastside and West End. The court will allow a judge to impose a broad range of decisions, everything from jail sentences to rehabilitation or a combination with emphasis on repaying the community for harm done. To do that, a judge will be provided with detailed information about the offender. Offenders considered for rehabilitation must plead guilty and make a choice to deal with their addiction or mental health problems. Jones is quite familiar with the revolving door cycle of addicted criminals being arrested and let out of jail the same day or next day. Jones retired from the Vancouver Police Department in November 2003 as the commander of the policing district that runs roughly from Cambie Street to Stanley Park. He accepted the job at the business improvement association in December 2003 and continues to lobby for changes to reduce crime and public disorder on the streets. He noted Mayor Sam Sullivan's proposal to prescribe legal medication to addicted criminals to replace illegal drugs has some good points. The provincial government's purchase of 10 Downtown Eastside hotels will also help solidify some housing stock for low-income residents, he added. The problem remains, however, that the city's justice and social service system "is like an alcoholic family," Jones said. "Just as in the alcoholic family, everybody revolves around the person with an alcohol addiction. In this case, the justice and social service system is revolving around a relatively small number of people who have huge mental health and addiction problems and nobody seems to want to recognize that person needs to get fixed or get put in a jail to get fixed, if necessary." - --- MAP posted-by: Steve Heath