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Photo credit VPD Chief Constable Jim Chu Vancouver Police Department |
Vancouver is apparently undergoing a gang war and in Metro Vancouver police have decided to unify efforts like never before to stop gang violence, under a task force led by the Vancouver Police Department (VPD), municipal departments, and the RCMP. In fact the VPD had already created a special unit as the gangs went out of control at the beginning of summer '07, with gun battles and massacres randomly widespread over drug-dealing territories. The task force was formed even though police publicly dismiss suggestions of an out-and-out gang war.
The announcement came after several others came one on top of the other in the past few months with formations of units to deal with gangs. Vancouver and the RCMP had an existing joint task force prior to the onslaught of deadly events running through the late autumn.
Police chief Jim Chu of VPD announced the special task force of 60 officers from various agencies to form the largest street-level gang violence task force in the history British Columbia.
Vancouver's Violence Suppression Team (VST) is an initiative counter to increasingly brazen 'targeted hits' in the streets, in restaurants, and at homes, practically anywhere, and occurring at unpredictable hours of day or night, around the Lower Mainland, including Vancouver, Richmond, and Surrey and elsewhere. In fact estimates are that over 100 gang slayings have been counted in recent years.
The Metro Vancouver VST joint police task force wasted no time either, and by Nov 22 07 they conducted a widespread search involving 300 people and netting a number of guns, this action from the VST, "in the first week after it hit the streets," said a police bulletin. The VST officers went on street patrol every night in bars and clubs, and also conducted roadside checks mainly in the downtown Vancouver area.
Head of the team Insp. Dean Robinson of VPD, said, "We are very happy with the results," of November successes, "Known gang members we're interested in and their associates, though, aren't as available as they normally are — that was very expected. That was the point of this program." In other words, the heads of the hoods are ducking for awhile.
After public concerns skyrocketed about innocent bystanders falling in the crossfire in recent attacks the VST was designed to act preventatively to intervene and create a presence that pre-empts situations. There have been over a dozen deaths in the Metro Vancouver area from gang related violence in four months.
Many Canadians recall an initial one of the attacks of heady violence that occurred in the summer, a paroxysm of shock one early morning with a shooting at a gathering that left two people dead, six injured, one critically, and dozens of spent shells strewn on a Richmond restaurant floor. It made a nationwide media splash, and police called it the worst shooting incident the west coast city has ever seen and call it a 'targeted' attack.
All the victims were Asian and two shooters remain unknown. The victims were known to police, and at the time the VPD called on governments to apply more resources to deal with gang-related violence. Since then the aforementioned professionals have pooled intelligence about gangsters to better identify levels of threat to public safety. He said the focus is on known gangsters.
VPD chief Chu said, "They will stop and search known gang vehicles, form quick response teams and respond to incidents of gang violence, and they will enter the bars and haunts of known gang members in of search of weapons and gangsters. You will see them everywhere in our community where we perceive there's a threat of gang violence."
The VST is deploying groups of six officers to conduct patrols wearing identifiable VST jackets. The overall program that deploys 60 officers is also focused on community intervention and awareness through outreach programs for young people who lack role models and mentors. Chu said, "Community groups, police, the government and the justice system have to work together."
The police chief said, "Young gang members, their parents and friends need to know that police will help them exit the gang lifestyle." Be that as it may, the law enforcement tactics will depend on the intelligence-driven team targeting gangstas at nightclubs, gyms, restaurants, and their homes. "This is all about guns and violence and drugs," Insp. Robinson said.
Violence suppression is a product of careful design, according to RCMP Supt. John Robin, the head of region's existing gang-violence task force, who also participates in the new wider regional approach. On the other hand, the Public Safety Minister John Les was unwilling to emphasize any changes to police approaches in the battles over big money in illegal drugs.
One thing remains the same for gangs, that gunfire might erupt anywhere, anytime, at church, in cars, in school hallways, in houses, in restaurants, at apartments, (six shot to Surrey apartment). Gangs range through all kinds of groups, and Vancouver's problems differ from problems in Toronto or Montreal, Winnipeg or Edmonton. In Toronto, for example, where so many youth were shot up in attacks this summer, black gangs operate from three major camps: the Bloods and the Crips operating side by side with so-called Jamaican posses.
The gangland activity centres around the infamous Jane and Finch. Regardless of the street corners named off in Canada, the discussion always comes down to people, and gangs are unusual formations based on testosterone and misbehaviour, some of whom emerged from poverty or a lack of education, others are university-educated and from affluent families. Dangerous events are indicative of cultural conflict, but also differences in status regarding money, and social alienation.
Gangs form around youth seeking a sense of belonging especially as they begin to hit mid-teens. In the Vancouver area gangs include the Independent Soldiers - primarily Indo-Canadian members; UN Gang - mostly Indo-Canadians, Asians, Persians. In Montreal there are Haitian and Jamaican gangs.
In Calgary and Edmonton: Self-named Asian gangs FOB (Fresh off the Boat, although many members born in Canada); FK (Fresh off the Boat Killers); Crazy Dragons, Crazy Dragon Killers. Winnipeg: African street gang Mad Cowz; aboriginal gang Indian Posse.
Representatives from the Solicitor General's office attribute many gang-related issues to B.C.'s gigantic and lucrative marijuana trade. This they say is the root of escalating violence.
According to expert criminology sources south of the border, an ideal task force investigation puts the entire gang under observation, from the street level thugs and dealers up through the crew leaders and ultimately the gang's command structure.
Whereas some citizen groups have been calling for an expanded regional police force, B.C. Solicitor General John Les said, "The province has a police team that's strong enough to fight gang crime in the Vancouver area. He rejected calls from others like the police community to form a metro police unit dedicated to fighting gangland crime.
The 60 officer task force is just the beginning, however, and the task force is intending to attack the problem, "with three broad strategies," said VPD Police Chief Chu. Strategies include pooling expertise from police departments all over the Lower Mainland, to be a highly visible presence, and to target gang suspects until they are arrested.
It is a fact that police chiefs and many levels of officers from suburban municipalities stood together before the press to laud the launching of the VST, which enjoys widespread support from law and order groups and organizations in society.
