Call for Public to Help Fight Drug Trafficking and Gangs
(at right, Chief Superintendent Kevin Hackett – photo 250News)
At a news conference in Prince George this morning, he, along with North DIstrict Chief Superintendent Lesley Bain and Solicitor General Mike Morris, called on the public to contact police when they see suspicious behaviours.
“What we rely on is the public to trust their good judgement and their intuition” says Hackett. “Those senses that sometime force you to take a another look at what’s going on in a certain area, often give rise to questions about what’s going on there? Why are there vehicles coming and going at all times of the night? Why do those individuals not seem to have regular jobs? Things of that nature are indicative of drug activities being focused in a specific area or residence.”
“These tips may seem small” says Chief Superintendent Lesley Bain “But they make a big difference in identifying new gang members, or helping police gather information on known gangsters that could lead to the arrest and reduction of risk of violence in our communities”
Individually, pieces of information may not seem significant, but that one piece of information could be the missing piece to complete a larger puzzle “That piece of information could be the tipping point in having that residence shut down” says Hackett.
Solicitor General Mike Morris says tips can help develop the detailed applications needed to be granted authority for wire taps or search warrants, it’s a process that takes time. Morris recalled a quote from a Supreme Court Justice who said “The main event is no longer the guilt or innocence of the accused. The main event is the integrity of the investigation.” He says that is why police are often reluctant to talk about investigations that may be costing millions of dollars “They don’t want to compromise that by releasing information by playing our hand too son in the process.”
While some may be concerned giving a tip to police would put themselves in danger, Chief Superintendent Hackett says that is exactly what the gangs want the public to believe “There are ways and methods we can take that information anonymously” He says if people feel threatened by certain individuals, it is all the more reason to “get our shoulder into the problem to make sure we stamp that out. That’s what they want, they think that through intimidation that everybody is going to go away and we are going to stop doing our jobs, and the opposite is true.”
Chief Superintendent Hackett says progress is being made in the battle against gangs, “I have the honour and privilege to see the work that’s being done across the province, not just from the CFSEU perspective, but from all law enforcement who are completely engaged and committed to doing what they need to do to keep the community safe and there is a tremendous amount of work, skilled, innovative , creative work that’s taking place both in new ways to combat gang violence and criminal activity and traditional methods, so I’m very happy.”
Tips can be made to police through CrimeStoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS
Comments
all the help that could be given wont do a dam thing if the people are just let go by the courts.
once, 9-10 years ago, my daughter made a friend who’s parents were doing drugs, I called the police to see if anything could be done and I was told to just not let my daughter go over there anymore, I didn’t let her continue to go, instead I encouraged their daughter to come to my house anytime she wanted, to get her out of that environment, the police said there was nothing else they could do, it was up to me, I reported drug activity but they would not even go to the house and check it out more, they didn’t want the peoples names or address at all, it was very frustrating.
Yeah right, did you see the AR15 semi-automatic rifle in the previous story that was confiscated from the drug dealers? That is someone I want to piss off. Give us the same authority to pack heat as the RCMP and have an army to back you up and maybe then I will get involved..
They are not going to run across the street and shoot you because you reported suspicious activity. Nice fear mongering. Everyone being too scared to say anything is partly why they can get away with doing whatever they want.
We need everyone to stand up to these losers together.
Legalize, regulate, and restrict to adults. The current model doesn’t work. Until this is done. Nothing is going to change.
“The battle against gangs and drug trafficking is a “shared responsibility” says Chief Superintendent Kevin Hackett…”
This is a typical response when the RCMP becomes completely overwhelmed by the level of violence and crime happening in our city. If crime and violence goes down the RCMP have no problem patting themselves on their backs, but when it goes up sharply, it becomes a “shared responsibility” with us (the public).
16 years of reduced funding for programs that intervene and divert at risk youth from a life of crime and violence and we all wonder why gang violence and targeted shootings are up? No real effort or resources invested by our government to prevent crime, just ignore the old adage; “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”!
Here’s a suggestion: put 2 officers in each cruiser and get rid of their damned laptops.
I dont know how many times I have seen cops driving around with their full attention directed at their computer and missing what is happening on the street beside them.
One officer to drive, the other to visually patrol the streets. Better than 2 seperate cars, 2 seperate officers and nobody able to look around.
When you have to appeal to the public for tips, that says that you need more eyes on the street…so put more “eyes” in the cruisers. It is far better to have 3-4 capable and aware units cruising the streets, rather than 6-8 units driving around not seeing anything for themselves.
FYI: I do not like to criticize the officers, they have a difficult job. In this case, it is the method of policing that I question.
Yes well said! Two in one car makes sense. Nowadays when RCMP respond to anything you have on cruiser for every member. I have a baseball bat I can help out with.
they use to have a great program that allowed volunteers with training called auxiliary police to be those second set of eyes and catch things the members missed. they also knew the community very well, but the rcmp destroyed that program as well…
Well said
Yeah I did my part too…reported my observations to crime stoppers….nothing happened… Phoned crime stoppers back to get an update since the traffic to the house in question never decreased…told me the RCMP know about the house and have a file. Never see them here or even watching…. Much less patrolling. wonder why folks don’t want to get involved?
It was prob someone they use as a snitch. They don’t bust them.
It sounds to me that maybe the people of this province should vote for a different political party.
I agree! The RCMP is the “federal and national” police force, so let’s get rid of Justin and the Liberals as soon as possible!
Had all your ducks placed with Harper huh?
Islandbound these turkeys here loved Harper and his oppressive government. They will support his polices forever! Foolish isn’t.
It’s the height of stupidity to put ideology ahead of logic . They call themselves conservatives because the true name for them is unpalatable even to themselves.
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