Was that budget cutting or knee-capping?

When city council, without discussion, refused to ante up the $2.3 million the police had requested to continue the drug crackdown in the Downtown Eastside, it sent a message. But what was it?

Does council want to wait and see whether such policing reduces drug dealing on the streets or merely moves it somewhere else? Is it saying that enforcement should not be seriously undertaken until the other three pillars are in place? Is it telling the police to make do with what they've got?

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