Last week Sunshine Coast Regional District director Adrian Belshaw may have put his foot in his mouth when he publicly told police to stop busting marijuana growers.
We're curious as to where Mr. Belshaw's head was at when he made this statement - and judging by several letters to the editor we have received this week, we aren't the only ones.
To refresh your memory, Belshaw said, "The current squandering of police resources on busting grow-ops, that are currently bringing more money into the community than logging is, should stop." Belshaw made these comments during a discussion about RCMP priorities at an SCRD committee meeting.
Belshaw suggests police should use resources more effectively for such things as traffic enforcement and violent crime.
While we can agree that traffic enforcement and violent crime are also important, we wonder what Adrian defines as violent crime?
In case he didn't know, recent reports in Vancouver newspapers have suggested that B.C. marijuana is financing guns being used by soldiers in Afghanistan.
If this information isn't violent enough, how about other problems associated with grow-ops, such as rental homes being destroyed, property values decreasing in areas where known drug houses are located, B.C. Hydro theft, home invasions and biker-gang affiliations. All sounds pretty violent to us and not things people on the Sunshine Coast, or anywhere for that matter, want to be associated with.
Belshaw is way out of line with his reckless notion that police should stop busting grow shows. After all, producing drugs is an illegal activity. Aren't the police supposed to target illegal, criminal activity? Belshaw is right on one thing, though - marijuana grow-ops are bringing in big bucks, but it's for all the wrong reasons.
We think Belshaw should concentrate on being an SCRD director and worry about issues like the grants-in-aid debate, the new SCRD budget, the water treatment plant and the countless other issues that are being faced by SCRD directors.
The police are paid to do a job. Politicians should let them get on with it and not comment on things they know very little about.
