New Gang Unit Office Being Readied

Tuesday, September 08, 2009 04:00 AM

Prince George, B.C.- It will likely be December 1^st before the special anti-gang unit of the RCMP is ready to move into it’s new space.

The building, which is undergoing renovations, is expected to be ready before the end of the year.

Superintendent Doug Kiloh, Officer in Charge of the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit says the time line to getting the team into its new working space has been longer than he had hoped “Has it been longer than I wanted? Yes, but it is certainly well within the norm especially when you are setting up a unit outside the lower mainland. You have to find the right people, they have to apply for a transfer, sell a house, buy a house and make a move. The building had to be selected and renovated and we have to make sure these officers have vehicles, computers, technical equipment. It all takes time. Are we falling short of where I wanted (at this time) to be? Absolutely.”

The plan for a 16 member satellite “anti-gang” unit for Prince George was announced in February.

The new integrated unit in Prince George will be responsible for anti gang work throughout the north of B.C. and will assist in drug investigations as well.

The start up of the unit couldn’t come soon enough. When the unit was announced, three people had already died in Prince George as the result of gang activity. Guy Mitchell Henry was shot to death outside a local restaurant, there have been drive by shootings, and in September, two people, Garret McComb and his girlfriend Brittany Giese, were murdered.

The unit will not work in isolation. Superintendent Kiloh says it can draw upon the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit for resources and support throughout any investigation. “The number of officers will fluctuate during the course of an investigation, it may be 10 to 40 during the course of an investigation, and could swell to 250 for a takedown.” The office itself will have enough space to accommodate 24 officers.

The unit in Prince George will be headed by Staff Sergeant Scott Lovell. The team will also benefit from the local experience of Sergeant Raj Sidhu who has transferred into the special unit from the Prince George RCMP detachment where he had gained a great deal of experience investigating gang crime in Prince George.

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Posted on Tuesday, September 08, 2009 04:00 AM in News by 250 News

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Comments

Posted by: acrider54 on September 8 2009 5:52 AM

Their office should be on the street. That's where all the crap happens.

Posted by: lmorge on September 8 2009 8:52 AM

It will be interesting to see how an integrated gang task force operates in the North District. With things spread out over such a large geographical area it will be difficult to be everywhere at once. In the lowermainland the IGTF does barwalks and if gang members are observed in any licensed establishments, they are ejected. This requires the cooperation of the bar owners and I'm not so sure that the bar owners in PG will be so cooperative.

Posted by: corruption on September 8 2009 10:54 AM

PG has a anit gang policy at the bar here already IE:notice wildthings isnt open any more or the The caddilac...its for a reason

Posted by: lmorge on September 8 2009 1:24 PM

Not what I'm referring to. In the metro vancouver area, the bar and pub owners have an agreement with police that if the gang unit checks the premises and known gang member associates are inside, they have the authority to make them leave the premises. Don't know of anything like this in PG at the moment. Has nothing to do with the city and leased properties.

Posted by: Harbinger on September 8 2009 4:48 PM

Gang members give up their Charter of Rights? Gang members exempt from "Freedom of Association"? Alas! Where will all this end?

Posted by: quesnel on September 8 2009 7:10 PM

With the clear lack of success with any findings for the "Highway of Tears' culprit(s)and the fact that a couple RCMP persons in the PG area (eg. Gary) were involved with the failed 'Air India' investigation, don't expect the RCMP to figure anything out. They've even dropped their recruit standards.

Posted by: supertech on September 8 2009 10:37 PM

I suspect this unit will mainly be under cover guys and I hope it works. I'm tired of paying for cops to give out traffic tickets and put drunks in jail for one night.

Posted by: Bridget on September 8 2009 10:56 PM

I've noticed a couple of you folks sound like you might be RCMP.
Wasn't the RCMP, City and downtown businesses talking about doing the "Bar Watch" last year? What you mentioned Imorge. I was watching a city council meeting last fall and our former RCMP superintendent was making a presentation and mentioned the Bar Watch. Did this ever happen?

Posted by: lmorge on September 10 2009 6:06 PM

Well Bridget, its all well and good when the city and law enforcement want this policy, however it still remains with the actual owner of the bar to step up to the plate. I think in PG some of the biker element has actually infiltrated into the part owner catagory in relation to what little of the nightspots remain, or the owners are friendlies with them, so it would be tough to enforce... I notice that Harbinger is crying the charter of rights issue, however, all the bars are private property and if the invitation to attend there is revoked by the management then a patrol will have to leave - whether it is for the night or a longer period of time. I remember many a night when the H.A.'s were in town at the Genny and there was no way the management there was going to ask them to leave.