How effective are public meetings in response to Surrey gang violence?
Posted April 18, 2016 7:26 am.
Last Updated April 18, 2016 12:14 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
SURREY (NEWS 1130) – The gunfire in Surrey shows no signs of stopping, with bullets apparently found in the side of a home on the weekend.
Today, RCMP will hold a community meeting, again passing along a message to parents, aimed at keeping kids out of the drug trade. But will it work?
Local gang expert and author Ranj Dhaliwal thinks tonight’s forum might be limited in its effectiveness.
He says it’s not a bad thing to have these forums; they might make a difference to some people who make the time to attend.
But Dhaliwal tells us it’s often the same people who go to these meetings.
“Making it more accessible — inside the home, or outside of a public area like a gymnasium or somewhere where somebody has to travel to get to — that would probably be better where there’s resources coming to your house, say, radio or the Internet or something. That would be quite a bit better I think.”
He adds these meetings are often reactive. He’d like to see information available all the time.
“We’ve had many [forums]. I don’t think they’ve done much good in decreasing violence in the street,” says Dhaliwal.
Tonight’s forum will be at the Bell Performing Arts Centre at 6:30 p.m.
This comes after the provincial government announced $23 million for anti-gang initiatives on Friday.
There was another report of shots fired over the weekend. RCMP found evidence of a shooting at 160th and 93rd Avenue. No one was hurt.
