Pubdate: Wed, 11 Jun 2008 Source: Asian Pacific Post, The (CN BC) Copyright: 2008 The Asian Pacific Post. Contact: http://www.asianpacificpost.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2909 Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Cannabis - Canada) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mdma.htm (Ecstasy) BC MIGHT AS WELL MEAN BIG CRIME The headlines last Friday in the cluster of newspaper boxes at thenortheast corner of Howe and Cordova in downtown Vancouver said it all. Three newspapers, three different exclusive stories all heralding our homeas a haven for criminals. The Province had a front page headlined Chasing a Dragon, which told thetale of our failed attempts to get rid of an alleged Chinese mobster who hasbeen in the country for over 15 years, apparently dealing dope and livingoff welfare. The Vancouver Sun, not to be outdone, had fresh details about the BaconBrothers, a well-known crime family in Metro Vancouver. That headline read:Brothers in Crime. The Asian Pacific Post had an exclusive gleaned from an Australian reportheadlined, High Seas Mafia. That was a story about the infiltration ofoutlaw motorcycle gangs and other organized crime elements into the PacificNorthwest fishing industry. Looking at the newspaper headlines, you could easily think you were inColombia not British Columbia. British Columbia is definitely the best place to live. For gangsters anddrug dealers that is. Not a day goes by now without a gang-related shooting - and before you cansay 'meth-lab,' there are reports of retaliatory murders. We have the dubious distinction of having over 25,000 active marijuanagrow-ops in the Metro Vancouver area, and together with marijuana farmsacross the province, B.C. Bud churns between $5 billion and $7 billion intoour economy. Throw in our money laundering casinos, violent groups of teens, easy accessto guns and the billions brought in by manufactured drugs such asmethamphetamine and ecstasy, and we are now a Superpower in the world ofcrime, according to our national magazine Maclean's. So what are the cops, judges and politicians doing about all this? Nothing effective. The cops blame the judges for being too lenient. The judges blame the politicians for not enacting tougher laws. The politicians, well they are too busy thinking about getting re-elected togive a damn. Sure there are announcements all the time about task forces and millions ofdollars going toward fighting crime. But has anything really happened tomake B.C. a safer place to live, other than ballooning overtime bills forcops and prosecutors? The bottom line here is that local thugs and their internationalcounterparts all know that crime pays in B.C. and that they can get awaywith it. Police constantly remind us that taking down gangs is becoming virtuallyimpossible because of their small, fluid structures which allow them to workindependently in cells. They have their own priorities, targets and operational set-ups, not unlikeour Metro Vancouver law enforcement apparatus. We have five municipal forces with an array of Mountie detachments policingthe Lower Mainland, all with their own priorities, targets and operationalset-ups. Did we hear someone say Lower Mainland Regional Police Force? Did we hear someone say disorganized policing is no way to fight organizedcrime? It took a massive terrorist attack in the United States before itscompartmentalized law enforcement silos were broken down and reintegratedfor the greater good and protection of America. British Columbia needs a unified approach to fight the menace that stalksour streets. If we don't do something now, our province might as well be B.C., for BigCrime. - --- MAP posted-by: Steve Heath