Pubdate: Wed, 11 Jul 2012
Source: Maple Ridge News (CN BC)
Copyright: 2012 Maple Ridge News
Contact:  http://www.mapleridgenews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1328
Author: Robert Mangelsdorf
Page: 5

COPS, COMMUNITY, PROFIT FROM CRIMINALS

Crime may not pay for criminals, but the province's Civil Forfeiture
Office is doing brisk business.

The Ridge Meadows RCMP and a pair of community groups were the latest
recipients of more than $35,000 in grant funding from the CFO.

The local police detachment received a $6,100 grant for the purchase
of night vision goggles, tablet computers and a digital camera, while
Cythera House and Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows Community Services received
grant funding for programs aimed at preventing violence against women
and children.

"This is about making sure crime doesn't pay," said justice minister
Shirley Bond, who was in Maple Ridge Monday to tour the local
detachment. "This year we provided a record [$5.5 million] in grants."

The provincial civil forfeiture program allows the provincial
government to target criminals by confiscating their homes, vehicles,
businesses, and other assets believed to be the instruments or
proceeds of crime.

Police identify property or assets to be seized and forward the cases
to the province's civil forfeiture office, which then initiates civil
court proceedings.

Since the Civil Forfeiture Act was passed in 2006, close to $25
million of property, goods and cashed has been seized by the province.

Since 2009, Ridge Meadows RCMP have been responsible for 14 successful
cash forfeitures, as well as one property and a 53-foot-long trailer,
for a total value of $177,079.

Since January, Ridge Meadows RCMP have forwarded $605,000 in
forfeitures to the CFO, including three properties, and three sums of
cash, and the forfeitures are still before the courts.

The majority of local forfeitures involve drug-related crime, with
drug houses being targeted and the cash located therein, according to
Ridge Meadows RCMP.

The proceeds of the forfeitures fund further police efforts through
grant funding, said Bond.

Programs selected for grant funding include gang and crime prevention
programs, as well as those aimed at violence against women and
children, and human trafficking. Among the local recipients was the
Cythera Transition House, which received $5,000 to run its VIP
Program, which provides school presentations on domestic violence 
prevention.

Maple Ridge Pitt Meadows Community Services received $25,000 for its
Ridge Meadows Child Advocacy Centre Pilot Project, which will
establish a multidisciplinary team to responding to child victims of
physical and sexual abuse.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Matt