Pubdate: Sun, 12 Aug 2007 Source: Calgary Sun, The (CN AB) Copyright: 2007 The Calgary Sun Contact: http://www.calgarysun.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/67 Author: Ian Robinson Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?216 (CN Police) NO HUGS FOR THUGS What Police Did This Week Downtown Was More Than Public Relations By IAN ROBINSON The great New York City journalist Jimmy Breslin was assigned to cover the funeral of President John F. Kennedy. While every other reporter was following the funeral procession and getting the identical story, Breslin was at Arlington National Cemetery ... interviewing the Irish-American gravedigger who'd dug Kennedy's grave. In that great newspaper columnist tradition of finding the angle that wouldn't occur to anybody else, my colleague Rick Bell went out with the cops on Operation Riverwalk, the much-ballyhooed response of the Calgary Police Force to our recent crime wave. (Yeah, I know it's technically called a "Service." The minute they throw away their pistols and stick daisies in their holsters I'll call them a "Service" instead of a "Force.") They were out to kick ass and take names, and they came back with a bunch of arrests and found a number of miscreants with warrants outstanding against them. While Rick talked to the cops, he also interviewed one of the homeless guys who lives down by the river, one of the people who normally doesn't have much of a voice. Chico was thrilled to see the cops because, as one of society's poorest and most vulnerable, he's more likely to be a victim of crime. And he's tired of sharing his living space with a bunch of criminals. Although I've heard the operation criticized as a mere public-relations exercise, it is much more than that, and it is exactly what this city needs. What this city does not need is more rumination on the roots of crime. It does not need hugs for thugs. Talking about instituting social programs to fight crime is like prescribing Botox for Keith Richards. Just as nothing is going to restore that face -- which looks like a contour map of the Badlands on a bad day -- being caring and compassionate with criminals doesn't help. We've tried that. For decades. And it doesn't work. Christ once said the poor are always with us. Well, since that fine day when Cain rose up in the tall grass and whacked brother Abel with a rock, so have the scumbags. This city spent nearly $16 million on the Clean to the Core initiative to spruce up the downtown and hire 18 extra cops to patrol it. They should have saved money on hanging baskets and simply hired more cops. You get rid of the scumbags and the graffiti disappears. You get rid of the scumbags holding some of the country's most expensive real estate hostage, and the city won't have to pay to spruce the place up. Developers and ordinary citizens will do that. Tough to take pride in your neighbourhood when crack whores ply their trade in daylight and you can't turn around without stepping on some hobo sunning himself on the pavement. What the cops did this week was more than mere public relations. It ought to be the model for how policing is approached in this city. It hearkens back to the brainstorm of Jack Maple, the New York City Transit Police officer who pioneered a system he called "cops on dots." Where there was crime in the transit system -- everything from turnstile jumping to murder -- he'd place a red dot on a map. And when there were lots of dots, he'd throw lots of cops at the spot with orders to take every crime seriously; to let nothing slide. He's credited with being one of the masterminds of Rudy Giuliani's successful campaign to clean up New York City. The cops know where the drug dealers are. Let's put a cop on those corners. When the dealers move, move the cop. The cops know where the hooker strolls are. When a minivan with a kiddie seat in the back with some suburban dad behind the wheel rolls up to a hooker, wouldn't it be nice if there was a cop on the corner who could wander up and grin? Say, "Hi there buddy! How you doing?" How fast do you think suburban dad would drive back to his own neighbourhood? It wouldn't even take an arrest. And when the hookers move ... move the cop. This isn't rocket surgery. It's effective. It works. And, I suspect for our cops, it'd be fun. Because nobody hates success. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom