ATTORNEY General
Ujjal Dosanjh took the
first step toward
national respectability
in the way we fight
organized crime last
week when he
announced the appoint-
ment of Bev Busson as
Chief Officer of the
fledgling Organized
Crime Agency of B.C.

While the parameters oof
the new organization have yet
to be worked out, the mes-
sage coming from the press
conference introducing
Bussen to the assembled
media was positive fora
change.

Tt has been a very turbu-
lent year for the law enforce-
Ment community in the wake
of the arrest and subsequent
conviction of provincial
Special Constable Phillip
‘Tsang, the former Royal
Hong Kong police officer
cum taxi driver, hired in
1993 by the now deposed
Peter Engstad, then director
of the Co-ordinated Law
Enforcement Unit (CLEU).

Tsang’s arrest triggered
the formation of a review
committee to look at how the
province fights the growing
menace of organized crime.
The committee, chaired by
former Deputy AG and
Ombudsman Stephen Owen,
investigated the operations of
CLEU and attempted to
determine its collective effee-
tiveness.

The committee’s report,
not including appendices,
runs over 70 pages long and
is a frightening read.

The analysts of the magni-
tude of the problem and its
subsequent recommendations
reveal how far the problem of
organized crime has come

since CLEU was first formed
in 1974 and how inadequate
our response to the problem
has been.

Committee members
Owen, former Vancouver
Chief Constable Bob Stewart
and retired RCMP Deputy
Commissioner Richard
Bergman struggled to get a
handle on the “magnitude of
the organized crime prob-
lem,” and in the end could
not come to grips with the
evact size of the enigma.

This speaks volumes about
the failure of Engstad since
he assumed control of CLEU
in the latter part of the *80s.

In the executive summary
of the document obtained by
the North Shore News the
comunittee said: “As a first
step in combating organized
crime, British Columbia
should develop a more accu-
rate and detailed picture of
the scope and magnitude of
crime group activities.”

Clearly, this statement
indicates the existing intelli-
gence profiles is just not
goud enough. Chapter 2 of
the report states: “Fhe com-
mittee discovered that no
detailed quantification of
British Columbia's organized
problem exists.”

What a strong condemns:
tion of Engstad’s reign as
director of CLEU, if after
more than a decade in
charge, there had not been a
specific analysis of the very
problem they were tasked
with curtailing.

Considering that Engstad
was relieved of his duties last
November, two months after
the report was filed and is
now part of the First Nations
treaty making process, one
can only wonder what pitfalls
lie ahead in that political
minefield.

While the repor: is written
in “bureaucratese,” it con-
tains enough strongly worded
conclusions aad recommen-
dations to place the blame
squarely at the feet of the
CLEU leadership and gov-
ernment underfunding.

Consider what the com-
mittee identified as “several
key obstacles to an effective
response (to organized
crime)”:

“A co-ordinated response
to organized crime, which
CLEU originally provided,
has been fost.”

“CLEU is trying to do
too much with too few
resources,

“Uneven CLEU leader-
ship, a lack of accountability
and workplace contlict have
undermined morale in all
ranks.

“Lack of a comprehensive
funding agreement and a
steady erosion of federal and
provincial funding for anti-
organized crime initiatives
have weakened intelligence,
operations and policy devel-
opment functions.”

The committee made 23
recommendations in the
report. Salted throughout the
report is the strong urging
for the provincial government
to pay attention to the prob-
lem and provide “increased”
or “adequate” funding for
the law enforcement efforts.

Equally, the report also
tells the politicians and the
bureaucrats to stay out of
areas they know nothing
about, a shot at Engstad and
his civil servant cronies who

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wrested control from the pro-
fessional police officers over
10 vears ago.

Recommendations 14, 15
and J7 stress the importance
of having police officers in
charge of operations and
intelligence divisions. [t also
recommends the political arm
he relegated te being respon -
sible for the “development of
policy reiating to organized
crime.”

This separation between
policy and operations is para-
mount in ensuring the new
ageney does not become
mired in the politics of
empire-building which
plagued and ultimately
destroyed the overall effec-
tiveness of CLEU.

Considering the revela-
tions concerning the scandal
plaguing the premier with the
references to organized
crime, internet gambling and
video lottery terminals, all
said by the Owen report to
be under the control of the
Hells Angels and other
aspeets of traditional orga-
nized crime, the separation is
absolutely crucial to ensure
the corrupting tentacles of
these organizations can be
kept under control.

How the transition
berween the current structure
of CLEU ana the new
Organized Crime Agency is
going to occur is still up in
the air.

The newly appointed chief
officer is going to take some
time in the first few months
to get the lay of the land, so
to speak, to determine what

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Wednesday, March 31, 1999 — North Shore News — 7

AG’s crime agency boss a geod appointment

the most effective path will

be.

a highly respected, protes-

sional police officer by all

Former RCMP Assistant
Commissioner Bev Busson is

See Crime page 10

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