Pubdate: Tue, 13 Nov 2007 Source: Intelligencer, The (CN ON) Copyright: 2007, Osprey Media Group Inc. Contact: http://www.intelligencer.ca/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2332 Author: Barry Ellsworth POLICE PLAN CRACKDOWN ON DRUG-RELATED CRIME Drugs were on the table when the Belleville Police Service met the public Monday at the Belleville Library. The session was to get public opinion on the police business plan that will be completed in January and guide the department for the next three years. But the plan is not so much about dollars as it is a comprehensive layout of where police will concentrate their efforts to reduce crime. Police Chief Steve Tanner said most people want traffic enforcement - or at least they say they do until they get a ticket. "Do something about the speeding on Front Street," is a typical complaint, Tanner said. But drugs is a bigger problem - it is the culprit behind many break and enters and robberies. Project Longarm - a drug enforcement team composed of several police forces including Belleville - seized almost $50 million in drugs in 2006, made 226 arrests and laid 832 charges, Tanner said. There were 461 break-ins and 44 robberies, and Tanner said many of those criminal acts were committed by those addicted to crack cocaine, either to buy more or to pay off dealers. Why else would a person use a knife to rob a corner store, netting maybe $50, and risk five to 10 years in jail, he asked. The drug crackdown has been a major factor in cutting break-ins to 461 from 653 in 2005, Tanner said. One woman told of crack dealers making deals outside her business and wondered what police could do to stop it. Tanner said store owners can ask police to install technological devices such as surveillance cameras to catch the culprits. Also, there are other ways to watch drug transactions since a uniformed officer on the street just makes the perpetrators move to another location. - --- MAP posted-by: Derek