Pubdate: Thu, 13 Jul 2000 Source: Toronto Star (CN ON) Copyright: 2000 The Toronto Star Contact: One Yonge St., Toronto ON, M5E 1E6 Fax: (416) 869-4322 Website: http://www.thestar.com/ Forum: http://www.thestar.com/editorial/disc_board/ Author: Cal Millar, Staff Reporter POLICE PROJECT REDUCES CRIME: MAYOR Lastman Wants 'This City To Be Safest In The World' Community Action Policing has done a tremendous job targeting street thugs, prostitutes and drug dealers, Mel Lastman said yesterday, calling on the province to come up with more money for the campaign. During a walkabout in Toronto's Junction area, Lastman said the provincial government's downloading of services on to communities has decreased the money available for crime fighting. He suggested Ontario come up with more money so police can expand programs such as CAP, which he said has been successful in reducing crime. Since this year's program was launched June 12 in Toronto, Lastman said, police have arrested 175 people, issued 2,210 tickets and made contact with more than 6,000 people. The program ends in September. Lastman said last year's campaign reduced crime an average of 13.8 per cent across Toronto. Nighttime crime downtown went down by more than 20 per cent and crime in the Junction area fell by 60 per cent, he said. "Our Community Action Policing initiative has been a tremendous success," he said. "This is a unique program of target policing." Lastman said the project's goal is to allow people to feel Toronto's streets are safe day or night. "I want this city to be the safest in the world," he said. Lastman said the CAP program is aimed at criminals - and not the homeless. "Police involved in the CAP program help those who can't provide for themselves to find a place to sleep," he said. He said police have been working with residents to clean up high crime areas. "There is no better way to do it than to have police officers in uniform walking the streets or driving the streets on bicycles," he said. Toronto police Chief Julian Fantino, who accompanied Lastman on a walk of the Dundas St. and Keele St. area, said the CAP program has police working with citizens, service organizations and political leaders. Fantino said officers working in CAP are from the local division and try to find the best solutions to community problems. "They are working to improve the quality of life for people in local neighbourhoods," he said. Councillor Norm Gardner (North York Centre), head of the police commission, said people can walk the streets without feeling intimidated. During the walk, Helen Ness, co-chair of the 11 Division police community liaison committee, said residents began work in August, 1998, to reclaim the Dundas St. and Keele St. area from criminals. Hess said a small garage on a side street which had become a magnet for drug dealers and prostitutes was demolished. Staff Inspector George Cushing said the initiatives chased away the criminals who had controlled the street. Since the cleanup, he said, local residents have held street parties and walks through the neighbourhood to demonstrate the community is safe. A police spokesperson said CAP programs can only be put into communities where the residents ask for them. They don't identify sites so neighbourhoods are not stigmatized. - --- MAP posted-by: Doc-Hawk