Pubdate: Wed, 23 May 2007
Source: Truro Daily News (CN NS)
Copyright: 2007 The Daily News
Contact:  http://www.trurodaily.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1159
Author: Harry Sullivan

RCMP AND LOCAL POLICE JOIN FORCES TO CRACK DOWN ON STREET CRIME

TRURO -- A new policing partnership is being established to help 
crack down on street crime in Truro and throughout Colchester County.

The effort was developed through the province's Safer Streets and 
Communities, introduced last year, which involves providing funding 
for street crime units. It involves an RCMP member partnering with a 
Truro police officer, working in plain clothes to tackle targeted 
enforcement of such issues as break and enters, thefts, vandalism and 
some street-level drugs.

"We have high expectations of our street-crime team," RCMP Staff Sgt. 
Hugh Walker recently told Colchester County council, while 
introducing the concept.

"We're going to be targeting street crime -- drugs, B and Es, the 
whole nine yards, county wide."

Walker said some elements of street crime, especially regarding 
drugs, are getting worse, a factor he attributes in part to a lack of 
education and a somewhat complacent societal attitude.

"It is the trafficking of drugs, it is the control of drugs," he 
said, adding that authority figures must do a better job of "getting 
to the youth," especially in light of a culture in which "we have 
parents giving their kids drugs."

"How do we deal with that?" he asked. "It's not just a political 
problem, it's a medical problem, it's an educational problem, it's 
also a greed problem."

But Walker and Dave MacNeil, deputy chief of the Truro Police 
Service, are both hoping the new partnership will prove successful in 
helping alleviate some of the drug problems along with other 
street-level crimes.

"Oftentimes, one person is responsible for multiple break and enters 
(in both urban and rural areas)," MacNeil said. From an investigation 
perspective,

however, different patrol officers on different shifts, even though 
they may work for the same department, could all be working on 
individual files for the same crimes without ever making that connection.

"We're going to try to co-ordinate our break and enter investigations 
. if everyone is working on their own files, it's harder to catch 
them (the criminals)," MacNeil said. "We're looking for some results 
and good target-hardened policing."
- ---
MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman