Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - January 11, 1994, Winnipeg, Manitoba Winnipeg free press january editorials editor John 6977044 walking the beat police departments across North America Are trying to Cope with falling budgets and rising the squeeze is forcing a new look at the old ways in search of More effective approaches to policing in the some police forces Are faring better than in a Radical departure from traditional methods has produced impressive since a serious commitment to Community based policing was made in Early crime rates have 18 per cent for property crimes and 10 per cent for violent with fewer crimes to invest More cases Are be ing the Success is attributed to an entirely Dif Ferent Way of approach ing police rather than cruising in a car seven or eight hours a responding to Calls and pursuing the thief or the police spend More time in neighbor hoods talking to gaining important info spotting Poten tial trouble before it develops and putting them selves in the rather than at the be of what goes on in the this kind of police work needs a different sort of police the stereotype of the Macho the crusading Tough Guy who drives his car recklessly but brilliantly in a High Speed Chase to catch the teenage Punk attracts a cer Tain the quiet spoken the cop on the beat who knows families and Job descriptions of the people who live in his territory is not the kind of pro file which inspires half hour television weeklies or Box of fice hits at the movie but it seems to be getting the Job done at least in Winnipeg has flirted with Community based about a dozen store front operations across the City Are already with cops on foot patrol who know their turf a More dramatic shift will mean some initial investment in leasing and but the payoff Over in Money and reduced crime makes the investment the biggest obstacle will be the entrenched attitudes of some of the constables of the Winnipeg police de converting them will take the persuasive talents of chief Dale whose reputation for integrity and fairness has improved morale markedly on the his High standing in the Community will come in under his there is no reason Why Winnipeg cant duplicate Edmonton fruits of Freedom Freedom has borne grim fruit in with the withdrawal of soviet troops from the country Al most five years the communist puppet govern ment that it had supported was supposed to Lead ing to an Afghanistan that would be free and the communist regime of president Howe was Able to hang on for another three years before fall ing before a coalition of wildly various groups of afghan Freedom fighters known As that too was expected to bring peace to the As the recent fierce fighting around Kabul again it did not and for the same reasons the in ability of Mujaheddin organizations to the soviet invasion of Afghanistan brought a powerful backlash from the International it was a brutal occupation that caused death and mutilation for hundreds of thousands of afghans and made Refu gees out of millions Moscow was made to pay for it by the West in economic and diplomatic but especially by the Freedom fighters who proved to be unconquerable and whose incessant attacks made the soviets pay too High a Price in lives and until the fall of Najibullah most of the world was United behind the afghans seemingly quixotic refusal to submit to the tyranny of a most of the world would be United in supporting a free Afghanistan in helping it to recover from the ravages of a cruel War and there is today no Afghanistan to stand just a collection of heavily armed warring a measure of the discord is the fact that the fighting in Kabul is Between various factions within the government with the forces of Radical islamic fundamentalist Gul Buddin Hematyar and former communist warlord Abdul Rashid Dos Tum attempting to occupy areas con trolled by the fighters of president Burhanuddin Rab in the Countryside Are other under other warlords with other watching with interest to see when and where they should join there is Little that the West can do in Afghanistan today except to push for other islamic countries May be More effective but this is a problem that the afghans will have to ultimately decide to Settle in the More than people have been killed since Afghanistan achieved Freedom thousands More seem Likely to die before the True fruits of Freedom there Are Winnipeg free press Winnipeg free press est 1872 Winnipeg Tribune est 1s90 Maurice Switzer publisher Duncan Mcmonagle executive editor John Dafoe editorial Page editor directors Joi in Bardawil marketing Craig Barnard circulation de Bel Dumeur human resources Bill Brian Cottom finance Stephan Majorki production Winnipeg free a division of newspapers division of Thomson newspapers company limited published seven Days a week at 1355 Mountain Manitoba r2x pm 6977000 a member of he Manitoba press Council changing the safety net pay cheques last week showed a reduction and a glance at the deductions indicate More was taken for unemployment the amount May not seem like but it reflects a worsening All governments Are trying to Deal yith the soaring costs and often questionable benefits of unemployment insurance and which once were separate when i was introduced in it was supposed to pro vide temporary assistance to those be tween social assistance was initially designed to be an income Secu Rity program primarily for those unlikely to Ever because of economic How they now Are with the disappearance of thousands of Many canadians have turned to i and when those payments Are forced to go on an August report by the National Council of welfare indicated nearly seven per cent of the working age population had been on social assistance and 24 per cent received i benefits at some time Between 1988 and an other received the Situa Tion is not much better now As Busi Nesses downsize to become More efficient and save but Money is not Federal and provincial spending indicates one of the few items continuing to increase is at the legislature Arlene Billinkoff thus preventing action on other at the same i costs have doubled Over five years and there is an accumulated debt of unfortunately forcing companies and employees to pay even More this year works against creation of new thus ensuring More people will ultimately not work and May go on Wel it will Force the government to Cut even More in order to pay for social no one benefits from this but How can it be corrected does it re quire tossing away traditional approaches or merely modifying them that is the several provinces Are exploring Al British Columbia and new Brunswick Are involved in six year so Cial assistance self sufficiency projects which use welfare and i in new funds which would have been used for welfare go to Edu cation and wage supplements Are also provided for single parents who have left welfare for Low paying to Date results Are relatively pos but it is an expensive process with about for each of the people nevertheless it is an attempt to break the Cycle and Ottawa is carefully studying the Ontario also has a plan which Calls for scrapping the welfare system and replacing it with programs to help peo ple become they in clude funding Low income parents to meet childrens Basic helping welfare recipients prepare for work through training and work placement programs and assisting peo ple while moving from Newfoundland wants stricter rules for unemployment using the million saved for education and a guaranteed annual to provide incentives to find the guaranteed income would not be reduced in direct proportion to any additional other such As have been less indeed they Are regressive and must Start studying for the proper approach is abandoning traditional but the National Council of welfare report on incentives and Dis incentives to work it states i and social assistance programs should be nevertheless the report acknowledges the need for improvement and Calls on government to explore new such As wage supplements for working an increase in mini mum no cuts in unemployment insurance and More child since the Council believes education and training Are not always the Best Way to help people get it urged careful evaluation of any new training and Job placement one May disagree with the councils but evaluation is already under Way of the new Brunswick Experiment and May serve As the base for changes introduced at the National fed eral human resources minister Lloyd Axworthy has promised to change unemployment insurance and social Assis Tance so they do not discourage people from regardless of what it will be a As the National Council of welfare it will require the Coop As Well As the imagination of provincial and Federal that approach is essential to ensure cuts in i do not put More people on instead there must be an emphasis on getting people to such action will not save Money in the Short it Means spending More wisely to produce positive whatever direction is it must be done because time is running military fears massive cutbacks by Stewart Macleod Thomson news services Ottawa there Are a Good Many worried faces around National defence Headquarters these Days and probably with Good whats feared is a massive military cutback by Jean Chretien Liberal its not just a bit of fat whats being talked about is a Shakedown of massive including the closure of Many military bases across the All the signs Are says a senior officer who now talking about Early ill be amazed if were not at the Root of the thinking of with the Federal government facing a budgetary deficit this and with the armed forces budget representing about one Quarter of it Doest re quire a great leap in logic to predict about the Only doubt is the the Chretien government got off to a jump Start during the election Campaign by promising to axe the controversial program for 43 new and almost immediately after the october 25 the Cancella Tion was a done soon the prime minister announced that John de Chaste Canadas ambassador to washing ton for the last would be coming Back to his old Job of chief of defence replacing Admiral John Anderson after Only one year on the Job was an unprecedented move one obviously made for important and in looking for those we cant ignore the fact that Admiral Anderson was a Strong supporter of the helicopter program and other projects to help modernize the there Are rumours swirling around defence Headquarters that Many Mili tary bases will be closed something that previous governments had difficulty facing for political Canadian troops prepare to go Home for Good from their nato base in in establishing governments spent As much time on economic and political implications As on military it was a Given that All the benefits of bases had to be spread through All and until the re cent closure of the Prince Edward this was the the Mulroney government had commissioned studies on the possible clo sure of other but the political re action in the conservative caucus kept them All the new Chretien government now has an Opportunity to close bases with an election four or five years Canada now has some men and women in its not difficult to find officers who predict that this May soon drop to weve already pulled most of our troops out of Europe and Chretien now is talking about possibly quitting the peacekeeping business in there Are some Canadian troops stationed there and committed to re main until some of the canadians were roughed up by serb soldiers recently and the prime minister we didst like it at he said there would be a full parliamentary debate before a Deci Sion is at which time Well no doubt hear about the billion already spend by us in the former there is also talk of cutting Back on the Fleet of cf18 fighters that have been returned to Canada Froni Germa at the very its expected some will go into As things there is really no enemy for the fighters to Fly there is also the question of Cana Das future in an organization that lost much of its original purpose with the collapse of the soviet even with the withdrawal of Cana Dian personnel from nato membership still costs Canada about million a Chretien is not yet ready to announce any but the nato Summit in Brussels this week will undoubtedly influence his major reorganizations also Are expected within National defence head where some military and civilian employees now Given the conditions in the world to and the necessity for spending re we Are unfortunately a very obvious said the senior offi morale he ;