TORY CRIME-FIGHTING PLANS PLEASE COPS

OTTAWA -- Canada's cops are embracing the Conservative crime-cutting
plan, but they're leery of the party's pledge to abolish the gun registry.

Tony Cannavino, president of the Canadian Professional Police
Association, said Canadians have lost faith in a justice system that
has become a revolving door for re-offending criminals.

He praised the Tory pledge to tip the scales of justice in favour of
victims and shed city streets of deadly guns.

"For the most part, the Conservative Party's security platform seems
to be the result of thorough thinking and to be guided by the
willingness of instilling a tougher justice system and policies for
the treatment of violent offenders," he said.

Cannavino said Conservative Leader Stephen Harper's commitment to
invest more money in police resources and impose mandatory minimum
sentences for more weapons and drug offences will give police officers
an edge on curbing gun and gang violence.

But he denounced the Tory plan to abolish the gun registry -- a
controversial control measure he described as a "useful tool" for police.

Public Safety Minister Anne McLellan dismissed the Tory plan as
copycat version of many measures already announced by the Liberals.

"He talks about crime prevention programming -- where's the man been?
We've had crime prevention programming for years, working with local
communities doing good things that deal with the root causes of
crime," she said.

But Steve Sullivan, of the Canadian Resource Centre for Victims of
Crime, said the Tory plan to create a national victims' ombudsman is
one measure that goes beyond the Grit promise.