The Times Colonist is reporting that "Victoria police have charged 16 people after an undercover sting targeted drug dealers who were selling around homeless shelters. The six-week operation, which wrapped up on Wednesday, was in response to a dramatic increase in aggressive drug dealing in front of the Rock Bay Landing shelter on Ellice Street and Our Place drop-in centre on Pandora Avenue. Police found the bulk of the drug dealers were linked to a street-level gang that uses violence and intimidation."
“The level of violence had increased to such a degree that we weren’t just hearing from the service providers, we were hearing from the clientele, who said: 'I’m not going by the shelter anymore — it’s too dangerous,' ” said Insp. Scott McGregor, who heads the department’s downtown beat and bikes unit, which carried out the operation. Don McTavish, Cool Aid’s manager of shelter programs, said a few months ago, staff at Rock Bay Landing noticed a group of drug dealers hanging out on the block who refused to leave. The situation was so bad that some clients felt unsafe using the shelter, he said."
“Where we have to draw the line is on violence, on trafficking, on the aggression that makes the whole neighbourhood unsafe, McTavish said. McGregor said it’s intolerable to see opportunists profiting off of the illness and sickness of some of the people who have to access these facilities.”
This is exactly what's happening outside a homeless shelter in Surrey called the Front Room and in the DTES. Only it has been going on there for years. Insp. Scott McGregor mentioned service providers. He's referring to the sex trade workers there who are being brutalized by these predatory drug dealers as we speak. This is where the drug dealers are the pimps. They give the sex trade workers crack then take all their money when they get a trick to pay for the drug. There is nothing consensual about it. It is human trafficking and exploitation.
Ya see, not all cops are bad. Not all bikers are bad either. We need to set aside the stereotypes and confront the violence at it's root cause. That is the New York Model.
Good to see. I was watching the cnn show (70s) and it showed new york city in the late 70's at its worse. Vancouver is heading down that road
ReplyDeleteThat was before my time. I was there in the 1980's. We were confronting the crack dealers on the Deuce - East 42nd Street Times Square. It was just like Main and Hastings. This is who I worked with and was trained by: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SlhpFkFDTOk
DeleteLOL. The phrase "duel of wits with an unarmed man" comes to mind......
ReplyDeleteThe Victoria police did what they are paid to do. They did their job. Drug dealers who set up business outside a homeless shelter need to be moved along. its not good for the people who work at the shelter, their clientele, or the neighbourhood. A homeless shelter is to provide a safe secure place to go when one is homeless.
ReplyDeleteWonder what the VPD and Surrey RCMP would do if the drug dealers set up shop outside of the homes of the mayors of those two cities and the homes of the premier and her cabinet. I know, I know. Well the homeless are just as entitled to a safe place to live as any other citizen in this country and I commend the Victoria Police Dept. for their work. Even if crown counsel doesn't take it to trial, the police have sent a message in Victoria. There will always be drug dealers but they don't have to be outside of some one's home.
Now to those other posters who from time to time seem to want to get into a "pissing match" with the blogger, I don't know who you are and don't care. I don't know about the blogger's past or who they are. I am interested in what the blogger writes and commenting as do others, who do comment on the topic at hand. Perhaps some of the rest, could do the same.
We don't have to agree with each other, but staying sort of on topic is always best.
Blaze doesn't learn....simple as that. Thank god. That was a battle between the wit and the witless.
ReplyDeletethnx for posting K,lol,good on them.
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