Prince George, B.C.- The Uniformed Gang Task Force was in Prince George for four days last week, and made the rounds to spread the word that gang activity won’t be tolerated.  This was their second visit in a little over a month.

Sergeant Shinder Kirk says this time, the majority of the time spent in P.G. was spent giving the members of the Northern office of the Combined Forces Anti Gang Unit some special training.

“The four nights were interesting from my perspective in that when we talk about gangs, they are a different animal from organized crime although they are both profit oriented. So what we saw here was a complete tie in between the gangs and organized crime.” He says the connection was viewed in a check they did outside the Renegades club house “We saw a person we ( Uniformed Gang Task Force) know as a self admitted gang member in the lower mainland, who is now siding with organized crime.” Sgt Kirk says the link was clear in that this person was wearing a “Patch” normally worn by those who are just entering the ranks of an organized crime group.

“The gang situation in Prince George is very ‘dynamic’” says Sgt Kirk.   He says Prince George is not unlike any other community in the province, there is a demand for the products the gangs can provide and the current trend is for new groups to try and form alliances with existing players, rather than trying to force their way into the market.   “These groups are very much moulded into a business model where the parent company will be located somewhere completely outside of the region and they’ll have franchise operators operating in a particular community.”

Sgt Kirk says the Unit attended an event at the Prince George Roller Dome  “It was a very youthful crowd and youth oriented, and lo and behold guess who the uniformed team ended up interacting with and subsequently removing from that event, but one adult gang member and three associates, So there’s a complete tie in my mind, between youth and functions like this, the issue of drugs, in this case ecstasy although we didn’t see any, and gangs. Why are adult gang members attending a youth and young adult function? ” He says it convinces him that youth are much more susceptible to the lies gang members will tell them “The lies being, you’ll make lots of money, or that the drugs don’t harm you, you’ll get those kind of comments being made by drug dealers or people involved in gangs.”

He says every youth is susceptible to being drawn into the gang lifestyle.

The four days here were highly successful says Sgt Kirk “Particularly in light of some of the comments we heard from people who said the people who are involved in gang activity aren’t out and about because they know the Gang Task force is in town.”