Pubdate: Sat, 28 Feb 2009 Source: Victoria Times-Colonist (CN BC) Copyright: 2009 Times Colonist Contact: http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/letters.html Website: http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/481 Author: Bill Cleverley Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/vics.htm (Lucas, Philippe) MAINLAND CRACKDOWN WORRIES MAYOR Vancouver's Addicts Could Be Pushed Onto Victoria Streets: Fortin Some local politicians are concerned a police crackdown in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside could push more of the poor and drug-addicted onto Victoria and Nanaimo city streets. "We are worried in the lead-up to the Olympics that there will be displacement. So we're looking forward to the opportunity to meet with Vancouver's mayor and council to discuss this," Victoria Mayor Dean Fortin said recently. Fortin said cities must deal with social disorder, but if it's done in isolation, it can have unintended consequences. Nanaimo Mayor John Ruttan said he shares Fortin's concerns and plans to meet with the Victoria mayor in coming weeks to discuss it and other issues. In what civil libertarians worry is the start of an Olympics street cleansing -- but Vancouver police say is simply part of a plan to deal with street disorder -- police officers issued 1,264 tickets in the Downtown Eastside in December. Of those, 892 were for infractions such as illegal vending and jaywalking. The remaining 372 were for offenses such as riding a bicycle without a helmet. While police say the goal of the crackdown is to make streets safer, social activist and civil liberties groups -- including the Pivot Legal Society, the B.C. Civil Liberties Association, AIDS groups and the Anti-Poverty Committee -- say police have ramped up enforcement to clean the streets in anticipation of the 2010 Winter Games. Ruttan said there's no indication from police the crackdown has had a spillover effect on Nanaimo, but it might be too early to tell. "But as summer draws near we may see that start to develop and as we get into fall and start to head into the Olympics next spring, that's what we're worried about," he said. Victoria Coun. Philippe Lucas, who has tracked police enforcement efforts as part of his master's program, said the concern of displacement is legitimate. "I think it is something we have to keep monitoring and I think more than anything else, we should hope that our police in Vancouver and Victoria are using effective evidence-based strategies." Lucas said the so-called broken-window approach of "arresting anyone for any crime," regardless of how minor, doesn't work. The broken-window theory is that minor crimes such as vandalism, if left unchecked, can lead to more significant crimes. Victoria police Chief Jamie Graham, a past chief of the Vancouver force, said approaches to policing in the Downtown Eastside are cyclical. He rejected the suggestion people would be deliberately moved in anticipation of the Olympics. "I've been a part of the most senior discussions at the security level dealing with Olympic planning, and there's never been even a discussion that we're going to crank up enforcement for the purposes of moving people out," Graham said. At the same time, he said, being poor shouldn't put someone above the law. - --- MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin