Editorial: Policing

The word among gang bangers is that Vancouver is an easy city to work in.

We have cops competing instead of cooperating, judges who are reluctant to

sentence thugs to any kind of meaningful time, and politicians who have their heads buried in the sand.

As violence rages on the streets of the Lower Mainland, the key weapon in appeasing public concern has been two words, “argeted hit.”

We have nothing to worry about because these are mostly gangsters killing gangsters.

Premier Gordon Campbell thinks this rash of violence is nothing out of the ordinary.

“I think it’s important for people to know that you can still drive around,” he said.

Not to be outdone, Vancouver Mayor Sam Sullivan opined,”police enforcement is not the answer.”

He wants money from Ottawa to deal with addiction issues more effectively.

Maybe he has safe shooting sites in mind.

Here is a gem from Tourism Vancouver president Rick Antonson.

The shootings he says are “not relevant to travellers,” noting that none of the shootings were “targeted at travellers” and they were “not aimed at tourists.”

Sure there have been a few innocent people caught in the cross fire, but as dairy farmer turned Solicitor-General John Les put it: “All the drama around them aside, the unfortunate fact is that we’ve had that level of homicides in Vancouver for a number of years.”

He went on to lambaste West Vancouver police chief Kash Heed, who raised the idea of a regional police force to tackle the criminals, who operating with no regard for arbitrary boundaries.

Les called Heedís boss to complain that the police chief was out of line and then scolded the veteran cop using words like “inappropriate,” “an unwelcome distraction” and “a red herring.”

The NDP, smelling an opportunity to smear the Liberals, demanded Les apologize to Heed for publicly attacking the veteran cop.

Both Les and Heed were apparently bewildered by the NDPís intervention, though Heed admitted to being surprised by the personal nature of the Solicitor-Generalís remarks.

All politicking and empty rhetoric aside, the idea of a regional police force is a good one and should be pursued with some vigor.

The gangsters operate in a regional fashion.

The police, as Heed puts it, work in silos of self-interest.

Les feels B.C. has one of the most integrated policing jurisdictions on the continent despite having an array of municipal forces working alongside the RCMP.

That may be so, but only on paper.

The reality is that policing in the Lower Mainland is largely decentralized and fragmented.

Take for instance The Integrated Homicide Investigative Team (IHIT), which “investigates all homicides within the Lower Mainland.”

Maybe Les should find out why the Vancouver Police Department is not a major part of IHIT, before he boasts about police cooperation.

The answer is simple.

Vancouver does not want its homicide detectives spending all their time investigating murders in Surrey or elsewhere.

The recent move to create a regional violent suppression unit to stop the street wars is a good thing.

The new task force aims to send a clear message to gangsters and promises to get “in the face” of the thugs.

But how long do you think the smaller municipalities - which are paying for their own police officers - are going to put up with giving up their valuable boys and girls in blue to fight crime that has minimal impact in their communities.

In B.C. it is evident that parochial politics is hampering the construction of a regional police force.

Bottom line: Disorganized policing is no way to fight organized crime.