TEAM BURNABY PUSHES FOR DRUG PHONE-TIP LINE

Candidates Say Kids Are Afraid To Report Dealers In The Area

Burnaby school-trustee candidates want to create a drug-dealer snitch line
for students to report suspected drug pushers.

Team Burnaby school board candidates have promised to set up the anonymous
line if elected.

"Kids are not reporting it because they are afraid to say anything," said
candidate Rich Baerg.

"We need to give the police something to go on, not just rumours."

The phone-tip line would be modelled after CrimeStoppers with the goal of
protecting kids from both students who sell drugs in schools and street
dealers who loiter around the grounds.

Baerg said big schools like Burnaby North face issues with drugs.

Last fall, Burnaby RCMP school liaison officer Const. Steve Bolt arrested a
21-year-old man loitering near Burnaby North who was trafficking drugs.
Bolt seized 10 grams of crack cocaine, in 29 individual-sale packages.

Bolt declined to comment on the value of a drug-dealer snitch line.

Burnaby Mountain Secondary PAC member and trustee candidate Cathy Cena said
she has heard of "people who stand outside of the schools and sell drugs
there all day long."

"It's an issue that's very quiet, no one wants to talk about it. We want to
set up this line so kids don't have to feel fearful," she said.

Burnaby trustee incumbent Mondee Redman doesn't see the need for a school
crime line.

"There is an issue with drugs in our schools, but I don't see it as an
overwhelming issue," she said.

Redman noted schools already have police liaison officers and youth workers
to hear such complaints, in addition to CrimeStoppers lines.

Surrey set up a similar snitch system this year. The Protecting Surrey
Schools Together website with Surrey RCMP and the Surrey Crime Prevention
Society is designed to crack down on bullying. The site at www.psst-bc.ca
allows students to confidentially report bullying incidents, which are
forwarded to the school administration.

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