Do you think so? I think it's confluence of interest, because he's a great fellow and I think we made a great decision--so there.
I know you have experience in aspects involving communities. I heard some of what you said--it was very reasoned, and I've read your one-page summary--on whether the general deterrents will get out in the community. I think in Moncton--Riverview--Dieppe they might get out there.
However, I also understood you to say that the deterrent is not so much Mr. Lee's point about the garden variety criminal's knowledge of the permutations of the Criminal Code and what the penalty might be, but just the general idea of getting caught, which goes to resources. I understand that.
Mr. Moore rightly points out that the code has had mandatory minimums for some time. I know you don't speak for the whole force, but do you think the mandatory minimums proposed here, escalated as they are, will reduce crime in general? That's the first question.
The second point I put out as a bit of a red herring. It has been raised by opposing members often enough to bring it out and ask a person who's used to dealing with communities. If anybody says statistics show that crime rates are on the decrease, there's this red herring thrown out that it's because people aren't reporting crime. In the old days, certain council members might have said it was because they had fewer members of the police going on surveillance and deterrent or detection services, and therefore they didn't catch criminals as often. You know that criticism.
So on those two questions, given your experience in a community policing situation with problem-oriented policing and all that sort of thing, what would you say?