Pubdate: Wed, 28 Feb 2007 Source: Now, The (Surrey, CN BC) Copyright: 2007 The Now Newspaper Contact: http://www.thenownewspaper.com/forms/lettersform.html Website: http://www.thenownewspaper.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1462 Author: Ted Colley Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/rehab.htm (Treatment) 'PARADIGM SHIFT' MADE TO FIGHT CRIME IN THE CITY A wide-ranging plan to cut crime in Surrey was unveiled Monday by Mayor Dianne Watts. Surrey's crime reduction strategy is the culmination of several months' work by a task force established by Watts to find ways to integrate the efforts of police, courts, corrections, drug rehabilitation programs and a host of social agencies to address the root causes of criminal behaviour. "This is a complete paradigm shift. Surrey is the first Canadian city to take this approach," Watts told a press conference at the Surrey RCMP detachment office Monday morning. Watts led delegations to the United Kingdom and New York City to study how officials in those jurisdictions have successfully reduced crime. "We found co-ordinated, cross-jurisdictional efforts," Watts said. "In New York City, we found support systems for offenders right in the courthouse." Watts wants to establish a community court in Surrey where addicts would be sent to treatment centres instead of jail. Probation orders would require offenders to take part in addiction treatment, job search and other support programs aimed at weaning them off of a life of crime. Watts also wants to see closed-circuit TV cameras monitoring street activity in crime "hot spots," the creation of community drug action teams, prolific offender management teams, increased affordable housing, more police officers and 50 community safety officers on Surrey streets. "It has to be a shift from what we've been doing in the past. We need a collective problem-solving approach," Watts said. B.C. Attorney General Wally Oppal applauded Surrey's plan and agreed co-ordination of all involved is necessary. "We have a tendency to work in silos in the justice business. The lawyers work independently, judges work independently. The New York model is a picture of a community working together," Oppal said. "We can no longer deal with the symptoms of crime. We have to deal with the root causes." Oppal's ministry would have to approve and fund a community court in Surrey. When asked when he would be prepared to move, Oppal dodged the question. "I don't think you need a community court as such to achieve crime reduction," he said, adding he had no timeline in mind for such a court in Surrey. "But I can see it coming." Both Watts and Oppal said they believe much of what will be needed to make the strategy work is already in place; it just has to be used more efficiently. "I don't see this being a large-ticket item," Watts said. - -- The Strategy Surrey's Crime Reduction Strategy is broken down into four components: - - Prevent and deter crime (initiatives such as surveillance cameras, drug action teams and community safety officers) - Apprehend and prosecute offenders (Identifying prolific offenders and crime hot spots, night courts, etc.) - Rehabilitate and reintegrate offenders (Expanded treatment through the private sectors, regional approach to treatment, full-time homelessness outreach workers) - Reality and perceptions of crime (communications strategy, working with seniors and the most vulnerable, leaflet drops in areas after drug houses are taken down). - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom