SAINT JOHN - Bruce Connell walks into his new office, removes his police tunic and hangs it up. With the jacket gone, the soft-spoken deputy chief relaxes. Boxes are scattered on the floor and the walls are bare in the deputy police chief's new office. A member of the Saint John Police Force since 1984, he's now second in command. While most who are new to the deputy chief's seventh-floor office at City Hall come armed with a long to-do list, Connell doesn't want to change the world. He believes the force is moving in the right direction. [continues 489 words]
Critique: Criminologist Argues That Stings Such As Operation Portland Will Have Little Lasting Effect On The Supply Of Street Drugs SAINT JOHN - Called Operation Portland, the six-month drug sting has had an impact on the city's hard-core drug trade in crack cocaine, Dilaudid and OxyContin. But how long the streets remain quiet after such an operation is always the big question. Irvin Waller is an Ottawa University professor and author of Less Law, More Order: Truth about Reducing Crime. The book takes a look at where America has gone wrong in its battle against drugs. He believes Canadian lawmakers and enforcers could also learn from the experiences south of the border. [continues 435 words]
Police Promise Not To Rest On Their Laurels Following The Biggest Drug Bust In City History SAINT JOHN - The world of drug dealers is a murky place governed by paranoia and populated by cagey and shadowy figures. If police want to infiltrate that world, they have to become part of it. Operation Portland, which netted 48 people and resulted in 120 charges, used three undercover officers who infiltrated street-level and mid-level drug dealers. For six months they lived in a world that most only see on TV or read about in the news. [continues 667 words]
SAINT JOHN - Quick to share a smile and a chuckle, Staff Sgt. Ed MacEachern sits behind his desk as the clock ticks down. Near his desk hangs a picture of his father Angus. The faded photo shows a young man, proud and wearing his military uniform. Above the photo is a half-hull model of one of the boats his father built. But while MacEachern got his sense of duty from his father, the woodworker genes missed him. "I can't paint a flat wall," MacEachern said. [continues 528 words]
SAINT JOHN - Just weeks into his new job as police chief and Bill Reid is taking the gloves off. He's had enough of the current catch-and-release system that provides addicts no help after they're arrested for crime that's driven by their need to feed a drug addiction. With the Saint John Police Force's new intelligence-led policing which allows them to closely track numbers via computer software and take a proactive rather than a reactive approach to crime, concrete numbers will be more readily available as to who commits those crimes and why. [continues 585 words]
SAINT JOHN - Donnie Snook knows crime and the turmoil it brings to a neighbourhood. He's spent much of his adult life working with children in the troubled south end where crack houses are more common than playgrounds. Snook was recently elected to council and one of the first steps he wants to take is pushing the province to introduce legislation that is currently cutting a swath across the country. Called safer communities and neighbourhoods legislation, or SCAN, it has been adopted by Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Yukon governments. [continues 457 words]
