Pubdate: Mon, 25 Sep 2006
Source: Winnipeg Free Press (CN MB)
Copyright: 2006 Winnipeg Free Press
Contact:  http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/502
Author: Don Marks
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Cannabis - Canada)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mdma.htm (Ecstasy)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth)
Note: Don Marks is a freelance writer and filmmaker who lives in 
downtown Winnipeg.

LIVING THE HEADLINES

Trust Me, The Police Are Doing A Vital Job In Taking Out The Trash

A year ago, I moved into an apartment near Central Park in downtown 
Winnipeg. A major advantage to living downtown is that you get to 
live the headlines rather than just read them. I used to just read 
about things like crime, and crime prevention programs like Operation 
Clean Sweep. Now I see it all firsthand.

Operation Clean Sweep is a concentrated effort to arrest drug 
dealers, sex trade participants and other criminals. It started in 
the West End. I heard that my new neighbourhood was next on the OCS 
list of dirty laundry and we sure needed some taking out of the dirty 
laundry and trash when I first moved in.

I spent my first night in bed listening to some drunk female swearing 
endlessly at some man in the parkade next door. It ended when he 
silenced her with a slap. I didn't do anything about it because the 
couple left before our busy police force could possibly get there and 
I felt safe because my apartment building is well secured. But I did 
hang a poster I have of New York at the foot of my bed. To see one 
crime-riddled Central Park on my wall and another out my window made sense.

Even more so the next day when I learned that buying milk at the 
convenience store at Carlton Street and Cumberland Avenue involved 
running a gauntlet occupied by gangly youth with baggy pants and huge 
hats that hang sideways off their heads.

Despite the "horror slasher" and "nutbar standing in the shadows 
crying while holding a teddy bear and a hatchet" images that ran 
through my head, it really wasn't that scary.

As a matter of fact, the boys always seemed to be more than willing 
to strike up a conversation. "Whaddup, man?" Translation: "Looking for drugs?"

"Need some rock?" Translation: Crack cocaine.

"Looking for green?" Translation: Marijuana.

"Need to get 'er up?" Translation: Viagra or Ecstasy (double 
translation: Date rape drug).

"Points here! Get your points here!" Translation: Methamphetamine.

Then, about nine months ago, police issued a media release indicating 
Operation Clean Sweep had swept up 23 drug dealers. I didn't have to 
read about it. I could just look out my window and see a new, clear 
path to my milk store.

But, as everybody knows, sweeping is only a temporary measure and you 
have to sweep a floor again and again. After about three months, the 
Mad Cowz and Mafia and Posse were back, only this time on another 
corner, on the other side of Central Park. Operation Clean Sweep, as 
good and effective as it was, seemed to be just moving the dirt around.

Drug dealers can always arrange bail because our justice system 
doesn't allow for any kind of Operation Vacuum. So we have to keep 
sweeping. Again and again and again. Trouble is, that costs coin, and 
it takes a major announcement from Mayor Sam Katz every time the 
police ask for more money to keep Operation Clean Sweep going. Katz 
has to keep in mind that a lot of his tax dollars come from suburban 
Winnipeggers who would rather see their money spent on wasp control. 
They don't have to buy milk after dark near Central Park.

Meanwhile, the majority of people who live near Central Park are the 
ones who really pay. The area is heavily populated by immigrants from 
Ethiopia and young aboriginal families who only get to use the park 
on Saturday and Sunday afternoons. This is when the potential in this 
community can be seen. Parents playing soccer with their children, 
pushing their kids on swings, putting on a picnic and so on. But come 
evening, a small minority takes over this tranquil setting and it's 
hip hop music and car hop drug deliveries.

The only way to shut down these corner drug stores is to keep the cop 
cars cruising 24/7, but our present policy is to sweep in and close 
them down and, once the neighbourhood looks clean enough, we 
re-direct our efforts elsewhere.

Thus, two months ago, I stepped out the front door of my apartment 
building and found 10 youth swarming another youth. Since living 
downtown provides a much more interesting perspective than reading 
about this kind of thing in the newspaper, I casually observed the 
scene from a distance, until one of the swarm pulled out a knife with 
a three-inch handle and an 18-inch blade. Even though my vantage 
point offered a better view than even the TV news provides (which is 
usually just a shot of the murder scene cordoned off by yellow police 
tape), I stepped back into my apartment and called the police on my 
cell phone. By the time the cops arrived, the swarm was long gone 
and, since I didn't read anything about it in the paper the next day, 
I assume the swarmee outswarmed the swarm.

This past week, I simply had to follow a trail of blood splatters to 
get my milk. The newspapers told me an elderly man had been struck 
over the head by a bottle and had managed to stagger to the store 
where he collapsed but got some help. The incident took place at 
three in the afternoon.

Operation Clean Sweep couldn't prevent such incidents, but they did 
make another pass through the hood this past week, and the corner 
drug store is no more, for now. Of course, my new neighbourhood 
knowledge told me to expect the drug drops to reopen in a couple of 
months, but something new is happening around here.

Somebody finally got wise to the fact that the drug dealers and pimps 
and punks were carrying out their business right beside a plethora of 
apartment blocks owned by the Manitoba Housing and Renewal 
Corporation. So, the MHRC has hired a private security company to 
patrol the area.

I had a late night chat with two of three rent-a-cops. They were nice 
but no nonsense kind of guys and they keep our floors swept clean. 
Unfortunately, they couldn't assure me how long the MHRC was going to 
keep them on the job. So we can't assure tourists or the rest of 
Winnipeg's population that our downtown is safe yet.

The only way to convince people to move downtown (or tourists to come 
on down) is to ensure them that it is safe. And the only way to keep 
downtown safe is constant vigilance. Unfortunately, you've heard it 
all before, most of it from writers and reporters who do not live in 
the area, or from sources like Statistics Canada. I simply hope that 
the case for safety and protection downtown is stronger when it comes 
from someone who actually lives it.

Bottom line is that you might be convinced to support Operation Clean 
Sweep (and convince Katz to keep it up) by seeing it through the eyes 
of someone who sees the success of the sweep every day.

All I have to do is throw the newspaper in the cat box, click off the 
remote control, and step outside.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman