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| Street gangs for hire | |
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Kim Bolan September 08, 2005 |
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B.C. street gangs are becoming more and more entwined with organized criminal groups involved in drug trafficking, prostitution, debt collection and credit card fraud, according to internal documents marked confidential that were prepared for the province's solicitor-general. |
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"These street gangs may operate on a 'for hire' basis doing a variety of jobs," says the briefing note prepared last December and obtained under Freedom of Information legislation. |
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"In British Columbia, a number of hybrid gangs are emerging that include members from multiple ethnic groups including Asian, Aboriginal, Hispanic, Caucasian and Indo-Canadian." |
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The document, dated Dec. 15, 2004, and prepared for former solicitor-general Rich Coleman, said increasing violence among street gangs is associated with power struggles and conflict over the drug trade. |
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"An increased number of home invasions and marijuana grow-ops rips have been reported," the document says. "These crimes are very lucrative but can result in serious violence as retaliation occurs by rival gangs." |
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The intelligence report says the Lower Mainland has the greatest concentration of street gangs in B.C., but that they are increasingly in the capital city as well. |
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"In Victoria, police monitor a core group of about 50 Crips members, who police say are responsible for a series of attacks outside bars [in the summer of 2004]," the briefing note says. |
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"Police say members are more dangerous now that they're older and have graduated to high levels of criminality, violence and intimidation. Indo-Canadian leaders are worried about increasing violence in their community and have said the murder rate of young Indo-Canadians is fuelled by Vancouver's booming drug trade and gang activity." |
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Another briefing note says "school liaison officers indicate that young Indo-Canadian students are being recruited by Indo-Canadian gang members at school." |
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The documents say B.C. police forces are using joint operations like the B.C. Integrated Gang Task Force, the Coordinated Marijuana Enforcement Team and the Combined Forces Strategic Enforcement Unit "to push back organized crime and other gang activity." |
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The Vancouver Sun obtained a series of documents related to the government's response to the crisis of violence involving young Indo-Canadian men. More than 90 murders, mostly related to drugs or gangs, have been committed since 1990. Most remain unsolved. |
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Just last week, a young woman who police are not identifying and her boyfriend, a known gangster named Harry Gill, were gunned down in Abbotsford in a targeted hit. |
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Since Coleman first announced last October the formation of a new task force to tackle the problem, no charges have been laid in any of the older unsolved slayings. And there have been another seven murders. |
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But the new task force, which became operational last April, has been collecting intelligence and aiding other joint police force teams in their investigations. |
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The documents indicate the Ministry of the Solicitor-General was contemplating forming a task force as early as June 2004, even though it was not announced until October or operational until April 2005. |
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In fact, when Coleman responded in writing to community leaders in the summer of 2004, he suggested they apply for grants through the Safe Street and Safe School Fund to combat the problem. |
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There was no mention of a police task force. |
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Balwant Sanghera, a community leader who wrote to the government about the problem, said Monday he feels progress is being made on the Indo-Canadian youth violence front. |
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"I think there's a lot of work being done all around at both the enforcement level and the provincial level," said Sanghera, who represents an umbrella group called the Sikh Societies of the Lower Mainland. |
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He said he would like to see more coordination among the various police forces and teams working on the drug and gang front. But solutions to such a complex problem will not come quickly, Sanghera said. |
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"We have to be patient. It is going to take time." |
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? The Vancouver Sun 2005 |
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