Crime fi

A long-time North
Vancouver Mountie has
been selected as one of
the unit leaders for the
new organized crime

: fighting agency,

- OCABC, which is
being headed by ancth-
er former North Van
cop, Bev Busson.

Mike Littlejohn, who
.” spent much of his carcer here
on the North Shore in the
‘drug section, also worked
with busson previously in the
‘Okanagan.

He rejoins her in the new
agency created from the ashes
of the Coordinated Law

- Enforcement Agency
(CLEU).
While these are good
moves, there is still some-
‘thing wrong with what has
been going on with the
‘fledging agency.
*, CLEU, you’ remember,
was: dismantled by the attor-
y general a year ago lollow-
ing the so-called “Owen -.
“Report” into its operations.
The report Jed to the firing, .
former director Petes
- Engstad {and his subse.juent
-Feassigninent to the aborigi- .
al treaty negotiation.
: aFOCCSS) and.the announve- ~

Last'spring, 9
f farifare,; Usjal Dosanjh: ~
ed f appoingnent.
‘former. RCMP *:

gency
to Sghi rganized crime
the new. century.
Whil

manoeuvring had to occur.
The hierarchy of the
Vancouver Police Department
would never accept 3
Mountic-dominated agency
and, likewise, the RCMP
have an inherent distrust of
“Munies” and balk at taking
direction from someone who
is not one of their own.
Busson interviewed a
number of very qualified can-
didates but in the end made .
the only decision she could
‘from a political point of view
and selected VPD Insp. Peter
Ditchfield as her adjunct,
This ensured the requisite
support of Vancouver PD and.
given Ditchfield’s long histo-
‘ry in working Asian gangs
and subsequently heading up
the VPD’s Strike Force and

_Gang Unit; should have been.

: readily accepted by the
RCMP.

By splitting the unit leader
positions equaily between
Mounties and “Munies”

Busson hoped zo have strgck

a balance. Bur, thus far, the
jury is'still out as to whether:
“the organization structure .

_ will be accepted. In fact,
therc.is word tiickling around |
. that Busson’ s selection of

* Ditehfeld & is seen as.a slap in
“the face to the RCMP and
somic of the old boy’s net is
-y shunning Busson and her

agency.

‘But treading through the
mincfield of inter-agency"pol-
is not Busson’s only”.

blem:in bringing life to a., .

organized crime inte!
‘gence and enforcement
agenicy. ‘The politics and
eral cffectiveness of C)
she tics t6 ee

with a: y knowledge of what”
zB ‘on with that dys

4 givin Bosson
do oat righr,

Suit
LEY lingered on and while -.

Hie > longer operational, cle-
“racnts of it still exist:
iin fact; Engstad was § the

“ously

only significant casualty. To
this day, there are senor
management stafiers, as
responsible as Engstad tor the
iinpotence of the once excep-
tional organization, still on
the payroll. Going to work
cach day with nothing appar-
ent te do. Sources tell me
they are being paid in excess
of $75K a year, complere
with taxpayer-provided vchi-
cles and expense accounts
and have little more to de
than read the daily papers -
and make nice-nice with their
secretaries.

Additionaliy, the bureau-
crats have stuck their pointy-
heads into the process.

OCABC needs 2 building
to work from.

In the world of organized
crime investigation, the

remises necded must be in a

ighly secure, yet low profile
environment. It must have a
number of specificaily
designed features such as a
wire room, a secure area
designed for the interception,

analysis and transcription of |. -

electronic surveillance.

: ‘Thus far the bureaucrats
have locked at a number of
properties to house the new
agency. including the former
municipal building in Ladner
and a host of others.

* A deal has apparently been
"struck for 2 former fisheries

~ building. on Annacis Island ~
‘and several hundreds of thou-
sands of dollars have been |
spent to rake the property °
_ usable for the agency. In spite
of thar there willbe no’ wire

“soom. At best this will only -
be a temporary fix. Despite
the moncy being spent, th
bureaucrats in the AG's office
are. still looking for a perma:
nent solution to the property .
conundrum. i

J And what of the former
CLEU building, purpose-
built for housing a large
organized crime fighting
agency? Apparently that’s still

‘up in the air. The last ford

swas the Ministry of Chiidre

and, Famitics will use-it as ha
base of operations for their ,

ham-iianded functions. One .

wonders what those tyrants

¢ might dp with wire intercep:
. capability?

“While all uf this nonsense .

° is oing on, organized crime

is flounshing and labghing at

: the fecblenexs of the police.

Bar several years now the.
efforts of the:men and.
women.at. the sharp end of
the fi ight have been, hampered":
“by the i incompetence of

Ma yor Jack Loucks obvi :
as. His choice is

‘. Barbara Sharp to provide the .

community'n
. You, th

al stewardship for coun-~
cil” and’. the: mmunity : £0 ;

proceed? with ‘into the next .
a fnillenniuny s

ghiers frustraied

senior management, bungling
bureaucrats and self-impor-
rant empire builders.

Busson has assembled a
strong, team so far. But with
all the politicking and
bureaucratic bungling, she is
still a very long way trom ini-
tiating the first investigation.
Meanwhilz, the attorney gen-
eral is busy mired in the dirty
politics of an NDP Icadership
bid. Nero fiddles while Rome
burns.

fs it any wonder
Vancouver has become the
North American focal point
for Asian organized crime? Is .
it any wonder the Hells
Angels in B.C. have become
the wealthiest in the outlaw
motorcycle gang world while
virtually untouched by law
enforcement?

The answer, unfortunately,

is no.

—lknigit@direct.ca

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