[homeles_ot-l] FW: Recent Ottawa Street Crimes Unit Sweeps - Know Your Rights

Fri Feb 15 14:55:25 EST 2008

FYI

Lynne Browne 
Coordinator, Alliance to End Homelessness 
147 Besserer Street, Ottawa ON  K1N 6A7 
613-241-7913 x 205, lbrowne at ysb.on.ca 
www.endhomelessnessottawa.ca 

   _____  

From: Adam Graham [mailto:mens.health.project at aco-cso.ca] 
Sent: February 15, 2008 3:15 AM
To: Adam Graham
Subject: Recent Ottawa Street Crimes Unit Sweeps - Know Your Rights
Importance: High

Dear Community Members

The Ottawa Police Service Street Crimes Unit has done a sweep on Wednesday
night in specific neighborhoods in Ottawa (see Citizen article below). This
is a time for all people, including clients, volunteers, staff and partners
to be aware of our rights. In this regard, we urge everyone to be aware of
their rights and to pass the information on to people who are directly
affected.

The Pivot Legal Society has developed and printed more than 60,000 Statement
For Police rights cards which have been distributed throughout Canada since
early 2002. The cards are detachable, with one side for the person being
arrested and the other side for the police officer. You can get the
printable PDF version of the generic cards here: HYPERLINK
"http://www.pivotlegal.org/pdfs/RightsCards.pdf"http://www.pivotlegal.org/pd
fs/RightsCards.pdf and you can order the cards for your organization. 

For the person being arrested, it lists the following information:

"Officer, if I am under arrest or being detained, please tell me so. If I am
free to go, please tell me so. If I am not free to go, please tell me why. I
wish to exercise all my legal rights including my right to silence and my
right to speak to a lawyer before I say anything to you. I do not consent to
be searched. I wish to be released without delay. Please do not ask me
questions, because I will not willingly talk to you until I speak to a
lawyer. Thank you for respecting my rights."

We are urging our own outreach workers to carry these cards for distribution
to communicate the information on them to your clients by posting it and
verbally communicating it.

Adam Graham

Gay Men's Prevention Coordinator

AIDS Committee of Ottawa

Tel: 613 238 5014 ext 224

HYPERLINK
"mailto:mens.health.project at aco-cso.ca"mens.health.project at aco-cso.ca

Ottawa sweep nets 47 arrests, closing of seven crack houses

(HYPERLINK
"http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/story.html?id=68d593fa-04a0-4480-b
5d9-e9d26e53bedb&k=63510"http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/story.html
?id=68d593fa-04a0-4480-b5d9-e9d26e53bedb&k=63510)  

Bruce Ward

Ottawa Citizen

Thursday, February 14, 2008

Seven crack houses are now out of business, thanks to a continuing crackdown
on street crime in several Ottawa neighbourhoods. 

A sweep by the street crime unit has also resulted in the arrests of 47
people, including drug dealers and prostitutes, who now face 225 charges. 

The unit, formed last November, has been targeting street-level drug dealers
and prostitution related crimes in the ByWard Market, Vanier, Hintonburg and
the downtown core. Since its creation in mid-November 2007, the unit has
charged 112 people. 

The street crime unit, working with patrol and neighbourhood officers, the
drug unit, and the guns and gangs section, gathered information at the
street level that has led to the disruption and closure of seven known crack
houses over the past six weeks. 

Two occupants of a notorious Catherine Street address are in custody and
facing several drug trafficking charges, possession of proceeds of crime
charges and breach of undertaking charges. Of the 47 persons charged, 14
were females arrested for prostitution related charges. 

Alain Bernard said the crack house closures and the flurry of arrests are "a
testament to how much of an issue it is out there." He said the sharing of
information between various police units is the key to stopping street-level
drug dealing and prostitution. 

"Oftentimes the same dealers that are inside the crack houses can be found
on the street. That's where the connect happens. We take information and
share it with other units within the service. It's from working together
that we've managed to close an additional seven crack houses in the past six
weeks. Working with landlords is the "other piece of the puzzle," he said. 

"Where the problem really stems from is when all of a sudden you have an
absentee landlord, who is doing this for the sole purposes of money and
might not have a vested interest in closing down a crack house because
they're paying the rent. 

"They don't see what's happening, or they're indifferent to what's
happening, and because of that all of a sudden we run into some problems."
But some landlords are working closely with the police, he added, citing the
closure of crack house in the 300 block of Catherine Street last weekend as
an example. 

"A landlord came forward and said help me. Not only were we able to charge
two individuals working out of that location with trafficking, the landlord
is in the process of having remaining tenants evicted." 

© Ottawa Citizen 2008

Adam Graham

Gay Men's Prevention Coordinator

AIDS Committee of Ottawa

Tel: 613 238 5014 ext 224

HYPERLINK
"mailto:mens.health.project at aco-cso.ca"mens.health.project at aco-cso.ca

HYPERLINK "http://www.snowblowerottawa.ca/"

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