Cara Loverock
Northern News Services
Published Friday, November 2, 2007

YELLOWKNIFE - According to the RCMP, their newly-formed Crime Reduction Unit has made an impact on drug crime downtown.

The Crime Reduction Unit was put in place early this summer originally as a pilot project to see what effectiveness the unit would have, said Const. Roxanne Dreilich.

"Over the summer they've had some significant successes, so it has become a permanent fixture here at the detachment," said Dreilich.

"The biggest impact that we're seeing from the Crime Reduction Units activity is a general decrease in the sort of open drug trafficking or drug activity in the downtown core."

Dreilich said the main focus of the unit, consisting of two officers, was the open illicit activity, specifically the trafficking of drugs and use of drugs and alcohol on the streets.

The unit has been involved in a lot of surveillance as well as adding an increased police presence in the city.

"Things aren't as chronic as they were, prior to the Crime Reduction Unit being there," said Dreilich.

There was no exact numbers available on the number of arrests the unit has made since its inception because the unit often works in partnership with detachment personnel and the division drug section.

Therefore they will often not be directly involved with some of the arrests of offenders the unit assisted in apprehending.

Most recently the unit arrested two men on Oct. 23, in the downtown area for smoking crack cocaine. The men, ages 34 and 49, were both Yellowknife residents.

The older man was found to have a small amount of crack cocaine on him, according to police, and charges of possession of a controlled substance are pending.