UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 VANCOUVER 001310

SIPDIS

STATE FOR ECA/PE/V/R/W -- EWILKES-SCOTT; WHA/PDA--JCARPENTER-ROCK;
OTTAWA FOR PAO AND CAO; CONSULATES FOR PA

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KPAO OEXC SCUL CA IV
SUBJECT: FY 2005 IVLP EVALUATION: JOHNNY HLIBCHUK; JANUARY 6-27; MRP
ON COMBATTING INTERNATIONAL CRIME

REF: 04 STATE 270346 AND PREVIOUS


1. (U) SUMMARY: Program evaluation for FY2005 Vancouver
Voluntary Visitor Program grantee Johnny Hlibchuk follows. END
SUMMARY.


2. (U) DATE OF PROGRAM, FISCAL YEAR AND QUARTER:
January 6-27, FY 2005, First Quarter


3. (U) MPP THEME ADDRESSED:
Combating Terrorism and International Crime


4. (U) POST OBJECTIVES:
Johnny Hlibchuk is a highly motivated individual held in high
regard by his peers and superiors at the RCMP 'E' Serious Crimes
Division Headquarters in Surrey, British Columbia. According to
some of his superiors at 'E' Division, by virtue of his current
position, in addition to his many accomplishments and law
training, Mr. Hlibchuk will advance quickly through the RCMP
ranks. Mr. Hlibchuk is also one of a few RCMP officers in the
region that hold a law degree. In his current position, Mr.
Hlibchuk serves as a policy advisor to the Deputy Commissioner
and Sergeant Major and therefore has a direct impact on RCMP
policy. He has extensive experience in cases that tackled
terrorism, money laundering, and drug smuggling in Canada.

Mr. Hlibchuk is very pro-United States and in favor of cross
border law enforcement cooperation. He recognizes the huge
amounts of red tape and mutual misunderstanding that currently
hinder this cooperation and would like to take steps to remedy
this situation. Post's goal through the IVLP is to afford Mr.
Hlibchuk the opportunity to learn first hand how and why things
are done in the United States so that he can work toward
harmonizing American and RCMP policy, and making cross border
investigations much more seamless and efficient.


5. (U) RESULTS: Outstanding

Johnny Hlibchuk expressed great satisfaction with his overall
program, labeling it, "fantastic." He found it to be an
excellent way to learn about how local, state and federal
entities work together to provide law enforcement in the United
States. Participation in the MRP on Combatting International
Crime also adjusted Mr. Hlibchuk's fundamental understanding of

how law enforcement works in the United States. His own words
explain it best: "I thought I knew the U.S. (before
participating in the IVLP), but I realized just how
decentralized the U.S. is through this trip."

Mr. Hlibchuk felt that the trip was well organized. He liked
the idea of dividing the larger group of participants into team
cities to allow smaller groups of people to speak with locals
one-on-one. For Mr. Hlibchuk, this led to the best parts of the
trip for him: riding along on the job with local police and
spending time in people's homes in the cities he visited.

Mr. Hlibchuk is also thankful for the large list of people he
met while participating in this trip. With his legal background,
he particularly appreciated meeting with a judge in Arizona who
could provide the view from the courts on prosecuting
international crime. Mr. Hlibchuk reports he has also developed
friendships with some of his fellow IVLP travelers that remain
strong today. He plans to visit a colleague from the Dominican
Republic soon, and he emails his colleague from Mexico about
three times per week.

When asked if he would make any changes to the program, Mr.
Hlibchuk stated that it might be more appropriate for someone
with his background to travel with law enforcement professionals
from Europe or elsewhere in North America. He explained that he
wanted to use the opportunities provided through this trip to
ask detailed questions of U.S. law enforcement representatives.
Other people in the group, he claimed, looked at the IVLP as a
junket and were always asking how they could receive money from
the U.S. to improve law enforcement programs in their home
countries. He felt that traveling with others who are less
concerned about basic resources might have allowed him to get
more out of the program intellectually. Still, he appreciated
the chance to talk with people from all different law
enforcement backgrounds about common challenges.

Mr. Hlibchuk's only other point of contention with the program
was with the focus on emergency preparedness in his own team
city division. He says that with a background in fighting
organized crime, he did not find the presentations by
firefighters particularly useful. He felt that it might have
been more appropriate for him to switch to a different team and
suggests that program participants be given a list of choices
for team cities prior to the start of the program.

Despite his minor criticisms of certain aspects of his trip, Mr.
Hlibchuk stated that he thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to
participate in the IVLP. He reports that he gained so much from
the program that he would gladly repeat the program again just
as it was organized.

6. (U) RATING/REMARKS:

Post appreciates the outstanding help provided by Alison Moylan
and Sequita Robinson with ECA/PE/V/M and Kay Yates with
CA/PE/V/C in organizing this MRP.


7. (U) UPDATE

Earlier this year, Johnny Hlibchuk transferred from the
Vancouver area to RCMP offices in Montreal, Quebec. This
contributed to the delay in debriefing him. After some effort,
we found Mr. Hlibchuk again and updated his contact information.
Though he has left our consular district, Mr. Hlibchuk will
continue to be an important contact for Mission Canada since he
will now be available to work closely with U.S. Consulate
General Montreal.




SCANDOLA