Pubdate: Sat, 24 Dec 2016 Source: StarPhoenix, The (CN SN) Copyright: 2016 The StarPhoenix Contact: http://thestarphoenix.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/400 Author: Charles Hamilton Page: A2 CRYSTAL METH FUELLING BOOST IN CITY'S CRIME RATE Police chief says intervention, education key to tackling problem For the first time under Chief Clive Weighill's tenure, crime in Saskatoon is going up. This city has the highest murder rate in the country and thefts and break-ins are spiking. The StarPhoenix sat down with the city's police chief to talk crime and what's next for 2017. Q The rise of methamphetamine is well documented in Saskatoon. You've said it's a main contributor to the city's crime rate. How are you going to combat it? A I don't see it changing anytime soon. Certainly, we are going need some intervention. I don't know if that's more addictions clinics, but certainly more education on the perils of the drug. Unfortunately, we've got a lot of people who haven't got a lot to live for and it's a very addictive drug. The high is very high. It goes right to your head and people enjoy it. Once you are addicted to it, you don't work, you are up for five or six days sometimes. You're not thinking clear and you sometimes commit crime to get the money you need. Q As the past president of the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police, you've been tapped to be the liaison for the inquiry into missing and murdered indigenous women. What is the issue as you see it, and where should the inquiry go? A Certainly, it has caught the national attention because of the awareness and the issue itself. This is a huge issue, not only with missing and murdered indigenous women and girls, but also with men. This is a problem we've got in Canadian society with a huge marginalized population. There are reasons for that - the residential schools, colonization. But we are all left here now trying to deal with this. We have to start looking forward. I think one of the main things we have to look at is the root causes. What is causing this? In my opinion, it's poverty, it's (lack of ) housing, it's racism, it's disadvantage. It's putting women and girls in vulnerable situations. So if we can't come to grips and solve those root causes we are going to continue to investigate cases of missing and murdered indigenous women. Q Looking forward to 2017, we could see marijuana legalized by the federal government. How big a change is that going to be for your officers? A I think it will be a real world changing view of drug enforcement in Canada for every police service. I don't expect it will happen in 2017. They are going to introduce legalization in the spring, but it will still have to go through committees and hearings. I think we are looking at 2018, so we will have another year to figure things out. >From what I can understand from most of the people who've been working on this, there are three or four things that are very important: keeping it away from youth, having some kind of a regulatory system so we can have some control over it, and making sure that people who do supply it are regulated so that when people are buying something, they know it's a safe product and there are no pesticides or chemicals in it. There has to be, as well, ability for police to enforce any laws that might come with that, when it comes to impaired (driving) for example. We don't have a test for it. Q What about street checks? That is one area of contention with the indigenous population and it also became an election issue. A I've had long talks with the mayor and he is opposed - as he should be - to random or arbitrary street checks. We are working our way through that with the Saskatchewan Police Commission. Our board will look at the policy and then we will decide what our policy is. I would hope that with a situation like this that is very controversial that we don't get polarized on it. You can have a situation where police can never stop anybody under any circumstances or the police saying, 'No we are going to keep doing it and it doesn't matter what you say.' We have to find a compromise. Some people will never agree, but I think we can find a middle. Q Are the street checks your service is doing random or arbitrary? A I can't say that every check we have done has never been arbitrary. I can't say that. I can say the good majority of them, we are there for a reason and we have grounds to do that. We have asked our officers as a first step that when they stop somebody, tell them why you are stopping them. Don't stop them and ask them what they are doing. - --- MAP posted-by: Matt