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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