PAGE 4, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 14, 1984, WHITBY FREE PRESS whitby w mp Voice of the County Town Pub Michael lan Burgess, Publisher . Managing Editor The only Whitby newspaper independently owned and operated by Whitby residents for Whitby residents. L blished every Wednesday by M.B.M. Publishing and Photography Inc. Phone 668-6111 The Free Press Building, 131 Brock Street North, P.O. Box 206, Whitby, Ont. MICHAEL KNELL Community Editor CONWAY DOBBS AdvertisIng Manager Second Class Mail Registration No. 5351 Neighbourhood Watch deserves all our support A week from now a few residents of our com- munity are going to band together in an effort to form a Neighbourhood Watch program for the College Downs area. Some of these peopie 'have been the victims of break and-enter artists and have had their homes and privacy violated. Insteaid of sitting back and relying on the Durham Regional Police Force they have decided to get involved and bsbome their own watchdog service.. lt's a reassuring process when a democracy reasserts itself, and it is for that reason I welcome the outpour- ing of public grievances about the methods and at- titudes of Revenue Canada. It is reassuring to know that the opposition party does have power, that despite the government's attempts to stonewall, the truth about Revenue Canada is coming out and will continue to come out. The only unfortunate thing about this is that the wrong man is being strung up. Pierre Bussieres, it is true, is the Revenue Minister. He is responsible for the Revenue Department in the same way that a captain with a shiftless crew. is responsible for his ship. In the hallowed halls of parliament, Mr. Bussieres carries the can, despite the fact that some elements of Revenue Canada turned savage years before he got. the job. It has long been treated as a junior portfolio, and that's part of the problem. There have been 12 Revenue Ministers in the last 15 years. That means the average.term has been little more than a year for those in charge of one of the most difficult and sensitive departments of the government. A year isn't long enough to learn how to fill out a tax form, let alone become familiar with the way the department.works at the grassroots. And the grassroots, by and large, is where the problem lies. Unless I miss the significance of everything that has gushed into the public domain over the past few weeks, the major problem is bloody-minded regional enforcers who have taken the view that broad questions of policy are Ottawa's, but that attitude, style, method and tone of voice are their's alone. I received a document the other day from a tax lawyer who has long made a study of the department and its methods. He says that for many years Revenue Canada rated the work of its assessors by giving them an hourly success rate based on the amount of collec- tions and the time spent on taxpayers' files. From there, he says, it was only a hop, skip and a jump to the quota system which came into effect three or four years ago. Under the quota system, individual assessors were given annual collection targets, and their success or failure in meeting the collection targets was used to rate them for promotion. lt isn't just Mr. Bussieres who failed to come to grips with what was going on. Jean Cretien served a term as minister. So did Jean Pierre Cote, Herb Gray, Robert Stanbury, Ron Basford, Bud Cullen, Monique Begin, Senator J.P. Güay, Tony Abbot, Walter Baker, and William Romkey. The late Mr. Baker, who was the minister responsible during the Clark government, only had six months, it's true. But l'm almost certain he had no idea what was going on either, or we'd have heard about it at the time. So, it is not just the Liberals and it's not just the un- fortunate Mr. Bussieres. What's happened in Revenue Canada could happen almost everywhere when no one is really in charge. They will take a little extra time and watch out for their neighbours. This newspaper is;an avid supporter of Neigh- bourhood Watch as one means of fighting crime in our community. It is no longer news.that five local youths were charged earlier this year with having committed over 150 resicelertial break-ins, occurances that might have ieerprevented in the first place if we had had the'inasight to Implement this program a few years ago. It has also become obvious that no matter how good a job they do, the Durham Regional Police Force cannot, by itself, deal with situations such as these. Our boys in blue need the support of an Informed, aware community if they are to suc- cessfully apprehend and convict the perpetrators of crimes such as these. Not even a bigger police force will be of much use in situations such as these, after all, no matter how many cops are out on the street they cannot be everywhere. So the answer still comes down to the willingness of the average citizen to get in- volved and report the crime he sees. As a community we can no longer tolerate those.-among us who don't want to get involved. We are all involved. It is our community that is being attacked by an admittedly small group of persons who have no respect for the lives and property of others. A few weeks ago, this newspaper argued that the best possible method of crime prevention is education. We must teach our children respect for their neighbours. We must also teach them to resist the negative influences of peer groups. Our readers will remember the letter by one parent who has anguished over what peer pressure led his son to do. Despite his efforts, the son now faces numerous counts of break, enter and theft. The writer of the letter made a point when he referred to the effect that peer pressure has on children. Parents, police and educators should take note of this man's experience and make their collective charges aware of how to identify peer pressure and how to cope with it. Another means of preventing crimes are programs such as Neighbourhood Watch. Karen Cattafi, the chairman of the College Downs organizing committee, said it best when she remarked: "If we can make them (the per- petrators) feel that the eyes of the world are upon them maybe we can slow them down." After all, someone who committs a crime does not want to be caught and if we increase his chan- ces of getting caught we may be able to prevent the crime. A point brought forward by the Durham Regional Police Force is also worth repeating. If anyone sees a crime in progress, do not Interfere, go to the nearest telephone and call police. An of- ficer will quickly be dispatched. Should a citizen's own home be involved, go to a neighbouring home to make that call. Do not risk confronting the per- petrator. Karen Cattafi and her neighbours should be ap- plauded for their efforts and this newspaper would like to encourage all interested residents of the Town of Whitby to take a couple of hours next Wednesday night to attend the Neighbourhood Watch organization meeting. It will be held at the Whitby Municipal Building beginning at 8 p.m. It's time we ail got involved,