AS THE SUN slowly sets into the western horizon, business turns brisk at the Ambleside Park liquor control roadblock set up by West Vancouver Police just after 8 p.m. on a re- cent Friday evening. Teenagers — crisply-clean prep- pies, heavy metalists and nouveau-riche new wavers — are out in force celebrating eraduation by cruising, boozing and partying all night. The West Vancouver Police Department is out in numbers as well, 10 keep the peace and cap the youthful energy spilling over onto local beaches lining the community from the Lions Gate spit to Sunset Beach west of Horseshoe Bay. The North Shore News was along for the ride June t9 with West Vancouver Police Depart- ment Cst. Colin) Bursill on an evening patrol through the coun- try’s wealthigst community ona busy Friday night. A community rating consistently high per capita incomes docs not translate into a@ higher crime rate. but the statistics do tell ao story. Break and enters, thefts, van- dalism costs, accident property damage and impaired drivers are all up over last year. “West Vancouver has the same crimes as anywhere else, we just have them in smaller degrees because we have a smaller popula- tion,’* said Bursill. LIQUOR SEIZED First stop after driving through Ambileside’s automobile merry- go-round involved a liquor seizure from a youth. The take — four bottles of Fosters beer. ‘* There was reasonable concern that it would be consumed by minors,”' said Bursill, a 13-vear veteran with the force. As with the rest of the alcohol confiscated during the course of the shift, the youth holding the beer could tater launch an appeal to have it returned. Otherwise the police dump it. Continuing on to Dundarave Park westward along Park Lane, residents wave and smile as the cruiser passes by. Commented Bursill: ‘¢The citizens in West Van are pretty good. It’s after 1 o'clock that they change.” Next stop is Woodgreen Park where the night before ‘ta fair amount of Jiquor™ was seized. Tonight the park sits dark and quiet. Bursill, normally assigned to the police department's crime preven- tion section, has been pulled in for a 10-hour shift to beef up the six- car police patrol of the communi- ty. The other officers out on patrol are pulliag [12-hour shifts. “When the legs seize up, you go out and rattle some door knabs,”* he says. “In crime prevention, people want to talk to you, but when you're on the road, most people don’; want you. tr changes your perspective,”” he notes. The patrol continues westward through winding neighborhoods i NEWS photo Tarry Peters peppered with Jags, jacuzzis and three-car gurazes. At Caulfetld Beach, just off Pilot House Road, the cruiser meets up with West Vancouver Fire Department firefighters who report that everything is quiet. Nearby a group of teens kill time before heading off to a party. By 9:55 p.m. the cruiser passes by Parthenon Place continuing on the patrol of the western beaches. “It's not uncommon to drive 80 to 90 miles on every shift,’ said Bursill. LARSON BEACH The major action during the first half of the shift: happens around 10:30 p.m. at Larson Beach — 11 teens, a beachside bonfire, beer and cider. The net — a bulk liquor seizure, no charges. Said Bursills “Grad parties seem to last three months these days. If you show vour flay early in’ the shift, thes Know you're our" After driving on to Whytecliff Park, the cruiser heads back east to West Vancouver Secondary School where ‘tthe vlass is) still where it should be."” The roadblock at) Ambleside Park disappears by 10:30) p.m., although there are still hundreds of people out, The patrol moves on to the dus- ty gravel wasteland of che spit be- tween Lions Gate Bridge and Van- couver Wharves just before mid- night. Nine bottles of beer are confiscated from seven people huddled around fires. “dts a strange myht. it has the potential of really going nuts, or it could just slough-off.""said Bursill. That's a 10-4. i NORT illegal su suithana, uh S&S, us “worth Guage Neves AH VAN DISTRICT ite phase-out cut toe ght years NORTH x ANCOUVER District: Council voted to chanve Is operating procedures mvolvuing devab satires Monday, but two aldermen said the changes did not go far enough, Ald boan Girdsts and Ald. Muro. Dakeman bork areued on fasor ot reduce the phase-out pentod for saites ta five seuss trom the present 10 years. but council soted fo omiuake at yeurs ine stead. The move followed the release oF a feval opinion by the municipality's solicitor Chat said in the event of a legal acon agains: coungl over the issue of illegal suites, the courts may view a 10. year phase-out as a reluctance or avoidance to enforce the bylaw. Despite this, Ald. Gadsby urged couneil to “bite the bullet and quit the waffling’’ on the issue and teduce the time limit to five vears, She was supported by Ald. Dykeman. who, like Gadsby, said WW ovears or even ight were too mans. Dvkeman, who voted agains: the initia] VO-vear phase-our the Previens week, said tive vears wits enough time ta adtass - “A tive scar plan is how see or sunmize a community: and fo think CPL Be ALISTAIR WATERS Ceetetting UM rites that is a reasonable tume for people to plan how they dive their lives,” he said. Citing the need for a ‘sensible working relationship with the community’ Dykeman urged council to reconsider its eight-year mouon, Ald, Bill Rodgers, who proposed the initial WO-vear phasing-out period the previous week, said the eight-year period was a com- promise he could live with. Rodgers said he was concerned with the plight of the people who will be most affected by the new rules — the tenants, “The community needs time.” he told council, ‘Time to rezone and tine for the market ro build atfordable housiny.”” Earlier in the evening council wave second and third readme toa See Suite Page 4 GEEEING IN toveh with nature took a new peist ut the Vancouver Aquarium Thursday. Diser Kevio White frotics with Beluga whales while denioastrating a new suit bs fatermitional Hard Suits Inc.. a subsidiary of Can-Dive Services Ltd. of North Vancouver. The nes wots a hit with numstns and whales ike. NEWS phoio Mke Wakofleld Cst. Colin Bursill of the West Vancouver Police Department prepares for his nightly vigil to keep the municipality's streets safe.