Pubdate: Thu, 07 Jun 2007 Source: London Free Press (CN ON) Copyright: 2007 The London Free Press Contact: http://www.lfpress.com/cgi-bin/comments.cgi?c=letters-editor Website: http://www.lfpress.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/243 Author: Kelly Pedro, Sun Media CRIME FIGHTERS GET A LIFT London Will Get Its Share Of $6.3 Million In Provincial Funds London police will get a share of $6.3 million to battle guns and gangs, Premier Dalton McGuinty said yesterday during a campaign-style swing through Hamilton. With a tough election campaign looming, the Liberals moved to bolster their law-and-order record with the avowed expansion of the anti-guns and gangs program to cities outside Toronto. The money will be spread across several communities, but it's unclear how much London police will get or when the cash will start to flow. Those details, said London West Liberal MPP Chris Bentley, will come within days. The vow of extra crime-fighting cash comes as the Liberals begin the unofficial, four-month campaign for Ontario's Oct. 10 election, after McGuinty pulled the plug Tuesday on the legislature three weeks ahead of schedule. Bentley shrugged off suggestions the announcement was political and that city police may never see the money, saying it's "good news for the people of London." "The work of the government goes on even when the legislature is not sitting," he said. Ab Chahbar, who chairs the city's police services board, said the money is welcome even if it may be political. "It's the right thing to do, whether there's an election or not," he said. "My view is that the funds will be advanced prior to the election in October. I don't believe it is an empty announcement." The board, along with police Chief Murray Faulkner, have lobbied Queen's Park for more cash to battle guns and gangs. Faulkner has long complained London gets Toronto's crime exports, with criminals driving down the Highway 401 to commit crimes here, and that the city should get money to help deal with the problem. Yesterday, he said he's thankful something is coming. "Not knowing a dollar value, but knowing we're going to get something, is better than what we've got now, which is nothing," he said. Faulkner said any money would support the work of a police task force set up to take illegal guns off the street. The life of the task force was extended until the fall and Faulkner is considering making it permanent. "Guns, gangs and drugs are a huge issue we need to deal with in this community," he said."This is a priority for us." Funding from yesterday's announcement will help to tackle crime on the streets of cities such as Hamilton, Ottawa, Thunder Bay, London and Waterloo, McGuinty said. The money is part of about $12 million in funding to fight drugs in Ontario, targeting methamphetamine labs and marijuana grow operations. "If young people make the wrong choices -- if they pick up a gun, if they join a gang -- then we'll be there with the full force of the law," McGuinty told a room filled with police officers and regional chiefs at the police headquarters in Hamilton. "We all have more work to do. That's why we're giving our police services more resources to continue the fight against gun crimes." The anti-guns and gangs program had a trial run in Toronto, and is now being expanded in the Golden Horseshoe, Essex County, Durham, Kenora, London, Ottawa, Peel Region, Thunder Bay, Waterloo and York Region. - --- MAP posted-by: Steve Heath