Pubdate: Tue, 02 Jun 2009
Source: Province, The (CN BC)
Copyright: 2009 Canwest Publishing Inc.
Contact: http://www.canada.com/theprovince/letters.html
Website: http://www.canada.com/theprovince/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/476
Author: Elaine O'Connor

SOME 'NEED TO BE INSTITUTIONALIZED'

In a wide-ranging interview with Province reporter Elaine O'Connor, 
Vancouver police Chief Jim Chu offered these thoughts on the Downtown Eastside.

What can we do to improve the situation in the Downtown Eastside? "I 
think we can make positive changes. It will take someone senior to 
listen to the input from a lot of people and make decisions, because 
you will never get consensus.

"I think what's really important is the ideology around 
deinstitutionalization. For some it was good, but they went too far 
and a lot of people who shouldn't be on the streets are out there. A 
lot of these people cannot function in the community. They need to be 
institutionalized. I'll say it. If you don't believe me, walk down 
there, there are some sick people. That may sound cruel to some 
people, but really you are killing people with their rights.

"We need more resources, especially in the area of drug treatment, 
and certainly in the area of crime and disorder, if we are able to 
improve the service to the mentally ill. Many of those individuals 
are victims, but also chronic offenders have some issues in terms of 
mental illness.

"The province, by opening up the Burnaby Centre [for mental health], 
it has taken in some people that were problematic in terms of being 
victims or causers of crime, and we're certainly looking for more 
resources in that area. I think the Burnaby centre could be doubled 
or tripled in capacity. That would help a lot.

"I also think institutions need to share information. In terms of 
care for people with mental disorders, we often find that, because we 
have information that we share, it's better than what the 
mental-health-service providers have because they don't share. We've 
been called to those situations where the person has gone berserk or 
walked into traffic or flipped out in a restaurant. So better 
information can also improve things in terms of delivery of service 
to those people." How can we stop addicted chronic offenders? "We've 
drawn attention to addicts going through the court system again and 
again, and our hope is that with purposeful sentencing and even 
greater capacity in the prison system, a lot of these addicts can get 
treatment for their addictions. But putting an addict in jail for 
only two weeks or three weeks, when they come out they are still 
addicted and they are still going to commit a crime. We don't think 
that is a good thing. Also, if an addict gets a longer sentence and 
gets treatment and responds positively to treatment in terms of 
managing their addiction, then I am all for letting that person out early.

"We are trying to get better information to the courts so that they 
are engaging in more personal sentencing. That's important because we 
are arguing that a lot of these people need longer sentencing because 
unless they are in there for a year, they aren't going to get any treatment.

"The second thing for chronic offenders is our detectives actually 
sit down with them and talk about their lives and what would get them 
off their addictions. We have an officer at the community court 
full-time that does a lot of this as well. If there are other ways to 
problem-solve about addictions or criminal lifestyles, we're looking 
for them, because sometimes jail is not always the answer.

"But when all else fails, you either incarcerate the person to 
protect the community, or you just let them commit crimes and put 
them in for a day, and let them commit more crimes and put them in 
for another day. We don't believe that's the answer." Where should 
the province concentrate resources? "It's always a tough call for the 
provincial government because they have funding restraints. And I 
think it's very important for the provincial government to analyze: 
do they want to pay for housing and health care directly or do they 
want to have other aspects of taxpayer-funded services like police 
and ambulance pick up those costs? Lots of things need to be funded.

"Generally, though, one of the things that we have said, especially 
in the Project Lockstep report, is that money seems to be going in 
[to Downtown Eastside supports] from many directions, not just the 
provincial government, but from private philanthropy, and we're not 
sure that all these funds are being used in co-ordination. Perhaps we 
could make an argument that existing money just needs to be used better."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom