Pubdate: Wed, 19 Sep 2007
Source: Victoria Times-Colonist (CN BC)
Copyright: 2007 Times Colonist
Contact:  http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/481
Author: Jack Aubry, CanWest News Service

CANADIANS CONDONE LAWBREAKING BY UNDERCOVER POLICE, POLL FINDS

OTTAWA -- Canadians want a crackdown on organized crime and 
overwhelmingly support officers breaking the law to infiltrate gangs, 
a new federal government poll indicates.

The national survey, conducted for the Department of Public Safety, 
also reveals that seven out of 10 Canadians want improvements in the 
federal government's current level of effort to combat 'organized crime.'

48 per cent of Canadians responded that organized crime had an impact 
on them personally and identified drug trafficking as the crime with 
the highest level of correlation to the criminal activity. More than 
half (54 per cent) say that members of motorcycle gangs should be 
prosecuted based on participation, regardless of whether they have 
committed a crime.

"The majority of respondents believe that undercover police officers 
should be permitted to commit certain crimes in order to infiltrate 
gangs -- 40 per cent strongly agree and 35 per cent somewhat agree," 
said the survey's executive summary.

But Alan Borovoy, the general counsel for the Canadian Civil 
Liberties Association, wondered if the Conservative government was in 
the process of preparing legislation giving police greater powers and 
was using the survey to create the need for new laws. He warned that 
the issue is not as black and white as presented by the survey and 
that police already have sweeping powers to battle crime.

Conducted between March 15 and 29, involving 1,337 telephone 
interviews with adults aged 18 and over, the poll has a margin of 
error of plus or minus 2.7 percentage points, 19 times out of 20. It 
cost taxpayers $47,650.
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MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart