Pubdate: Sat, 5 Mar 2011 Source: Intelligencer, The (CN ON) Copyright: 2011, Osprey Media Group Inc. Contact: http://www.intelligencer.ca/feedback1/LetterToEditor.aspx Website: http://www.intelligencer.ca/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2332 Cited: NORML Canada: http://www.norml.ca/ POLICE AT NORML MEETING RAISES POINTED QUESTIONS Engage in virtually any discussion about downtown Belleville and sooner or later someone will bring up the issue of safety and crime and wonder where, oh where, are Belleville's finest. You know -- Why aren't our men and women in blue patrolling our downtown streets? The answer from Belleville police officials has been consistent: putting officers downtown means pulling them off duty somewhere else and the crime statistics for downtown don't merit dedicating more officers to the area. We have argued in the past that more feet on the street downtown would pay significant benefits in terms of cleaning up some of the issues in the core and, if not attracting more people, than at least removing one more excuse for people to avoid downtown. That said, we also respect the fact that at the end of the day, our police service needs to be the final voice on deployment of officers. To paraphrase Voltaire, we disagree with the police department's position on this but we defend their right to take that position. At least we do if they maintain some consistency. That consistency took a dive this week when three Belleville police officers made an appearance downtown on Tuesday at The Studio cafe on Front Street. The reason for their visit was to observe (monitor?) a panel discussion on the negatives of Bill S-10, also known as The Penalites for Organized Drug Crime Act which would implement mandatory prison terms for certain drug charges and "special penalties" if the crimes target youth or are conducted by organized crime. The meeting was part of a national tour by the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) in Canada, which argues the bill imposes overly harsh penalties for what is generally a minor infraction. While this is a contentious issue, to be sure, it's not exactly one that we would expect to result in a melee breaking out between those in favour and those against. So exactly what were Belleville's finest doing there? We suspect they were there because anything to do with marijuana tends to get the police all hot and bothered. While we think this is rather silly, again we support our police force's right to do silly things if they see fit. However, we don't like being told one thing then seeing another. If, as police say, manpower is an issue when it comes to cleaning up our downtown, then why does a panel discussion on a political issue warrant a manpower expenditure but making people feel safe on the streets doesn't? Quite frankly, there's an odour to this over-staffing of a what amounted to a political meeting or a philosophical discussion and it isn't pot we're smelling.