Pubdate: Thu, 07 Apr 2016
Source: Now, The (Surrey, CN BC)
Copyright: 2016 Canwest Publishing Inc.
Contact:  http://www.thenownewspaper.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1462
Author: Amy Reid

Policing

GET BACK TO BASICS TO BEAT CRIME

EXCLUSIVE: Former RCMP officer says good old-fashioned proactive
policing will force bad guys to 'get out of Dodge'

Everyone and their dog has an opinion on how Surrey's law enforcement
could or should be cracking down on the rampant shooting spree.

Joseph Edwards certainly does.

And as a retired RCMP officer with 35 years of service under his belt
- - 15 in Surrey - it's safe to say he knows the agency and the city
well.

He's not short on love for either.

But the longtime Cloverdale resident is frustrated. He has one
resounding message for Surrey's leaders: Get more officers on the road.

But he doesn't necessarily mean hire more - and he told Mayor Linda
Hepner as much during a meeting in early 2015.

"It's been over a year since then and I do not see any change," said
Edwards.

"Boots on the street. That's it. If you hire another 200, you'll be
paying more and it won't do any good. Yes, they need new members
because of population... but you still need them on the road."

Edwards described Surrey RCMP's policing style as "reactive."

"They leave the office, go to a call, come back and do the paperwork,"
said Edwards.

"Each member right now is carrying anywhere between 10 to 30 SUI
(Still Under Investigation) files. That means they have to do all the
paperwork, all the follow-up, contact with witnesses, statements,
interviews, doing Crown reports. It's their file from its birth to its
end."

Take a grow-op file for example, said Edwards. By his estimate, you'd
need a few cops to guard the home while a warrant is obtained. Then a
couple more cops to help tear the grow-op down.

"It's still his file, so that means exhibits, lab reports,
investigation to find out who runs the place, if he arrests him, do
the interview and Crown report. That's just one drug file. Yet, if you
have a drug section with drug members who are experienced at doing
warrants - pass it up to those sections. Get him back on the road."

When working in Surrey in the early '80s, Edwards said the saying was,
"If it moves, you check it."

"You can't check anything sitting in an office. Say an alarm goes off
in Port Kells. They call Cloverdale and by the time the call comes in
and get in a car, it's too late. You need cars up there patrolling
everything that moves."

Start small, said Edwards, and the big stuff will take care of
itself.

"If you put these guys back on the road, you augment your plainclothes
section. They're writing tickets for things like tail lights, to
wearing helmets," he said. "So if you stop a car in Newton, a black
car, lowrider, driving around at 3 o'clock in the morning, if he was
going to do a shooting, you've already identified that guy as being in
the area."

Word travels fast, he noted.

"When people find out they're going to get ticketed, going to get
checked, they'll either be squeaky clean or get out of Dodge."

But members are too busy handling their massive caseload to do so, he
said.

"These guys are doing their best but people are getting burned out,"
Edwards remarked. "You have to free them up so they want to do these
checks."

And the checks work.

On March 16, Surrey officers stopped a vehicle and they found more
than $4.5 million in drugs including heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine,
fentanyl and fake oxycontin. Pardip Hayer, 30, was charged with four
counts of trafficking in a substance under the Controlled Drugs and
Substances Act.

Solicitor General Mike Morris said this week that traffic checks
regularly yield big busts.

"Our traffic police, right across this province, are our front-line
resources that uncover all kinds of criminal activity," Morris said.
"We need them to continue doing that."

And that's Edwards' point.

"In small communities you can do the style of policing (Surrey RCMP
is) doing now because you don't get as many files," said Edwards. "But
when you get to a city like Surrey with more than 500,000 now, you
have to change your style.

"If it doesn't work, change it. It frustrates me=C2=85 I sit here and sha
ke
my head."

Despite his frustrations, Edwards emphasized his support for the
RCMP.

"I love the RCMP. It's been good to me... But I feel for the members.
It's almost like pushing a string uphill."

Mayor Hepner recalls meeting with a few law enforcement officers last
year to hear their ideas. She said all were passed along to Surrey
RCMP's Officer in Charge Bill Fordy.

"At that point I get out of the way," she said. "That's an operational
and deployment initiative and it may very well be that some of those
things are in place or not. But I know that we're taking a full-on
360-approach to everything."

In response to Edwards' comments, Surrey RCMP Cpl. Scotty Schumann
said the detachment has spoken publicly many times about both the
proactive and reactive strategies it uses.

"We respect that many people may have ideas about solutions to crime,
and we welcome feedback on all aspects of policing. Our district
offices are in place for exactly that reason, to hear directly from
the community," said Schumann. "We also reach out to our citizens and
give them ways to interact with police in relaxed environments, like
'Coffee with a Cop,' or neighbourhood safety meetings." `

Scotty said RCMP will listen to and consider all feedback.

"The crime we're seeing right now is a very complex issue, and
policing is one small part of the broader societal response required,"
remarked Schumann. "We are working diligently, not only on the
investigations at hand, but also with many stakeholders dealing with
the crime issues."

- - With files from The Province
- ---
MAP posted-by: Matt