Surrey councillor urges federal leaders, MPs campaigning to address gang conflict

SURREY (NEWS 1130) — Gang violence in Surrey needs to be addressed by federal leaders and MPs, says one city councillor as she urges politicians to focus on prevention.

Linda Annis tells NEWS 1130 Surrey is not the only city to be experiencing issues with gang conflict, adding “candidates have to be advocating for more safe programs across Canada.”

“We in Surrey are very fortunate. The city was given funding by the federal government a few years ago to launch a safe program, and it’s a program that is collaborative in nature. We work with 10 different partner organizations to identify kids that are at risk and going into gang activity,” she explains.

“And it has been wildly successful. I would very much like to see all of the candidates advocating for continuing the funding for this program beyond its current state.”

Annis calls the program an “iconic” part of the city and says she’s incredibly proud of it.

“The best thing that we can possibly do is prevention, identifying kids at risk, and making sure that their energies are channelled in the proper direction. And this is something that the safe program is very, very good at doing.

“Unfortunately, with gang conflict, you can’t police yourself out of it. You can certainly get gang members to modify their behaviour, you can arrest them, but the best solution to our gang conflict is early intervention and prevention,” she adds.

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As the City of Surrey continues to transition from its RCMP force to the Surrey Police Service, Annis adds, candidates need to be vocal about where they stand — especially those in Surrey ridings, given it’s a controversial subject there.

The councillor adds there is already a tri-lateral agreement between the province, Surrey and the federal government, but Annis wants transparency addressed. If the transition to a Surrey Police force does go through, she just wants it to be a smooth transition.

Hamish Telford, an associate professor of political science at the University of the Fraser Valley, is also a bit surprised that crime has not been a major topic amid the federal election campaign. He tells NEWS 1130 he expected it would have been on someone’s radar.

“That’s a little bit surprising to me, given the gun shootings that we had on the Lower Mainland this year. But I’m surprised national leaders haven’t spoken out more on that issue,” he explained.

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