RCMP want more resources amid B.C. gang conflict, expert says prevention key

The Lower Mainland gang shootings continue. And now, the National Police Federation wants B.C. to give police more resources for anti-gang operations. As Kier Junos reports, they also want the Surrey Police to stop recruiting active officers.

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) — After another deadly weekend of gang violence in the Lower Mainland, the union representing Mounties is calling for more police resources, but an expert says community-based initiatives are needed to prevent violence and address the demand for illicit drugs.

On Sunday, a man was shot and killed in broad daylight at Vancouver International Airport, a brazen execution police say was tied to the ongoing gang conflict. That followed a murder in Burnaby Saturday, the gunfire also injuring a bystander. There have been 10 shootings in the past three weeks, including two at shopping malls, and one at a busy park.

Police on Monday promised action, assuring people in the region that they are working around the clock on investigations and enforcement. BC RCMP Assistant Commissioner Dwayne McDonald says while many of the incidents have been targeted, they’ve increasingly been taking place in public, highly-populated areas. He said agencies across the region have been and will be working together to address the increased violence, employing “overt and covert” strategies.

RCMP union says police are ‘under-resourced’

The National Police Federation, the union representing RCMP officers, has issued a statement calling on the province to give police more staff and funding.

“Police services across the Lower Mainland, in particular the RCMP, have been under-resourced for far too long, contributing to this escalating violence,” writes President Brian Suave.

“We need immediate action to protect innocent people, including police officers, during this crisis. It is more important than ever to ensure police services are resourced and properly funded to protect the public from this ongoing gang violence.”

Suave is also calling on the province to stop the new Surrey Police Service from recruiting members, saying it is diverting officers from other forces and “destabilizing” policing in the region.

Minister of Public Safety Mike Farnworth, who is set to meet with police Thursday, says police departments in the region are adequately staffed.

“Staffing has not been an issue in the Lower Mainland.”

RCMP Assistant Commissioner Manny Mann, who is the chief of the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit of BC (CFSEU-BC), noted Monday that younger people are joining gang life.

“Over the years, as these gang conflicts have continued, there’s been more and more groups being formed, which has resulted in more conflict, more people being involved. And another trend that we’re seeing is there’s more youth that are involved with gangs, whether they’re currently in criminal activity, they may have ended up as victims or suspects,” he explained, after identifying the victim of Saturday’s shooting in Burnby as 19-year old Toni Dalipi.

Prevention, intervention not the work of police; community action needed

Dr. Erin Osterberg, Assistant Professor in Criminal Justice at the University of the Fraser Valley, says it’s important not to forget or erase the humanity of the people being killed.

“At a community level, we need to recognise that the people who are involved in this, they have parents, they have siblings, they have people who love them,” seh says.

“So it’s never that someone deserves violence, that’s not helpful in trying to either heal as a community or move forward when we’re dealing with issues of violence.”

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While she says police clearly have a role to play, Osterberg does not think police can or should be solely responsible for addressing these issues.

“Prevention and intervention are really at the community level. What can the broader community do to help young people either avoid or move away from this lifestyle? That can’t fall to the police, it’s not within their mandate,” she says.

“Police are the primary organization responsible for suppressing gang activity. The rest of it really falls to us to be informed and involved and ensure that we have safe and caring communities in which to raise our children and help them get away from this kind of activity if they find themselves there. We need to be taking a very systemic approach in how we’re examining what the issue is, and then how we’re responding to it.”

However, she notes there has not been enough research done to show which prevention and intervention strategies are most effective.

Another thing Osterberg says can’t be ignored is the role the illicit drug trade plays in these gang conflicts.

“Gangs supply the drugs for which there is demand among people who use drugs,” she says.

“If we can reduce the demand for illicit narcotics, then perhaps we can start to have an effect on the overwhelming supply we’re dealing with here in British Columbia. We have many people dying, and one of the things that fentanyl and the last couple of years of deaths have shown us is that it really crosses socio-economic boundaries. We’re not talking about one group of people that are dealing with addiction. We’re talking about a lot of people in a lot of communities.”

One thing Osterberg wants people to resist is blaming parents whose kids become involved in gangs or the drug trade, or leaving it up to families to do all the work of prevention and intervention.

“We can’t be saying this is up to their parents and it’s their parents’ fault. In every community across the Lower Mainland, we’ve had young people getting involved in very serious crime related to gangs,” she says.

“I think it really needs to be an emphasis on the broader community to come together to recognize that this is a systemic issue.”

-With files from Monika Gul and Hana Mae Nassar

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