Pubdate: Thu, 9 Mar 2000 Source: Daily Herald Tribune, The (CN AB) Copyright: 2000 The Daily Herald Tribune Contact: Postal Bag 3000, 10604 - 100 Street, Grande Prairie, Alberta T8V 6V4 Fax: (780) 532-2120 Website: http://www.bowesnet.com/dht/ Author: Laura Tester, Herald-Tribune staff DRUG CRACKDOWN PAYING OFF Addition Of Extra Officer Allows RCMP To Focus Their Attention On Suspected Dealers Grande Prairie RCMP experienced a wealth of changes in 1999 and one of them was the addition of a drug officer. Insp. Jim Steele talked about the changes while delivering last year's annual report to the city's protective services committee meeting Tuesday. Created last July, the drug officer working under the General Investigation Section was busy keeping tabs on dealers in town. The report indicates that over a five-month stretch, several charges were laid: 11 charges of possession for the purpose of trafficking marijuana, four charges of possession for the purpose of trafficking cocaine, five charges of marijuana possession, three charges of cocaine possession, seven charges of marijuana production, and one charge of trafficking in cocaine. "The (position) is looking at targeting the dealers and other people who are bringing the drugs into Grande Prairie," Steele said after the meeting. The traffic unit was also restructured in 1999 away from the traditional schedule and toward two traffic teams. "We feel this better suited the needs of the city allowing for more traffic visibility," reports Cpl. Doug Milne. "We achieved this goal with more checkstops, more school zone patrols, and more patrols throughout the city." Changes were also evident in the police dog unit. Cpl. Doug Hawkes retired "Lex" in April and "Kory" was then trained for six months. The German shepherd started active duty Oct. 1. The General Investigation Section noted personnel changes with the transfer of two of its members to northern postings. It investigated and assisted in more than 325 files ranging from attempted murder to extortion and other serious offences. The community policing unit continued to work on various crime prevention initiatives and other projects. The DARE (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) program made tremendous gains in 1999 according to the report. Additional funding was injected into the program and four new city schools were added to the program. "Last year, the focus was on our business plan priorities which the people in the community told us were property offences and offences against persons, and they're concerned about youth," Steele said. "And again this year, we're going to focus on those issues as well." He praised the Victims' Assistance Program, mainly staffed by volunteers who devoted 2,746 hours of time in 1999. Police vehicles were also beefed up with the installation of cell phones and the detachment was also structurally reorganized to accommodate an increase in manpower. Currently, there are 46 municipal positions and 15 provincial positions at the police station. A total of six vacancies have yet to be filled. Steele told the committee that he'll be presenting final criminal statistics for 1999 at an upcoming meeting. "Statistics are looking like they will turn out much the same as the 1988 statistics which were pretty good for us," Steele said. "It's showing a downward trend in most of the criminal offences which is good news." - --- MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart