False dreams of fast, easy cash attract young men to violent crime: police
Posted March 13, 2015 12:43 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
LOWER MAINLAND (NEWS1130) – As police in Surrey look for information on five young men linked to recent shootings in that community, we’re speaking with the province’s anti-gang agency about what attracts men to a life of violent crime.
False dreams of fast, easy cash seem to be at the heart of what’s attracting young men to the criminal lifestyle, says Sergeant Lindsey Houghton with the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit.
He tells us police are making efforts to dispel myths and highlight the dangers of those choices.
“These young people in their early 20s are sucked into this lifestyle that they’re going to get rich, that they’re going to be Scarface,” says Houghton. “This is not the case. Their lives are at risk, and they’re putting the lives of everybody else at risk.”
Houghton says it’s worth speaking with your kids when they’re as young as six.
“It’s important that we get out and communicate with parents, young people, with teachers and even police officers,” says Houghton. “Educate everybody on the dangers of this activity and what it could lead to.”
He says in recent weeks, a 10-year-old in Surrey asked a 12-year-old with access to cocaine if he could get involved in selling the drug.
