Community Involvement Key to Battling Gangs Says Inspector

Tuesday, November 02, 2010 09:24 AM

Inspector Tim Shields addresses another capacity crowd at the anti Gang summit.

Prince George, B.C. When it comes to battling gangs, RCMP Inspector Tim Shields says there is no easy path to gang prevention “There is no road map here, there is no single agency who has the golden key . It’s almost like the cure to cancer, we all want to find it so desperately, we know that it’s the right thing to keep striving towards, but so far no one has it.”

Shields says he has looked at gang prevention strategies across North America and has not been able to find that “one single thing that is going to work.”

He says to battle gangs, there needs to be a combination of things and the most important aspect of any successful prevention campaigns is the level of community involvement.

To that end, Shields says community involvement includes supporting Police activity “We as police have to recognize, if we don’t have the support of the public then we can’t do our job.” He says without that public support, and trust, people do not call in tips about crack houses, or provide them with information that could lead to arrests and convictions.

Inspector Shields says members of the Prince George community who have taken two days our of their busy lives to attend the anti-gang summit, shows the commitment by the community, and it is a necessary first step in the battle against gangs.

The summit wraps up this afternoon.

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Posted on Tuesday, November 02, 2010 09:24 AM in News by 250 News

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Comments

Posted by: Harbinger on November 2 2010 12:53 PM

No need to show excerpts from the old Death Wish movies with ol' stone face at the start of these meetings, eh?

Posted by: dnakamura on November 2 2010 7:11 PM

Many thanks to the RCMP and the City of Prince George for organizing this summit. Your hard work and long hours paid off because it was truly a success! And the success could be measured by the numbers of people who turned out for this two-day event. There were people who attended the summit who have and are currently being affected by gang activity and violence in their neighbourhoods. No neighbourhood in Prince George is spared from this menacing influence. I felt proud as a citizen of Prince George to be a part of this event and to see people from all walks of life come together to find solutions.

Posted by: Harbinger on November 2 2010 8:25 PM

And the solutions are...? Be specific.

Posted by: dnakamura on November 2 2010 9:05 PM

Harbinger, there are no black and white solutions to this issue. This summit was just a start. There will be other steps to follow. What these steps are, I don't know. It took many years for our city to come to this dilemma. It's never a quick fix.
Were you at the summit Harbinger?

Posted by: supertech on November 2 2010 9:23 PM

This will end up the same as the meetings with the flood zone home owners. More rules with no solutions. We can phone the police forever but if we keep using the same judges and the same penal system, nothing is gained. We need some punishment and going to jail is not punishment. Public ridicule on a chain gang clean up crew for two years (during the winter as well) is punishmnet. Make jail a punishment and no one will want to go there. The current jail is a move out of the cold into 3 meals a a day with the best of health care--with some pay. What a good idea; pay them money to be in jail. So I give you a solution and no one wants to impliment it. Don't bother me with meetings and bull####.

Posted by: dnakamura on November 2 2010 9:51 PM

Supertech you can't compare meetings with the flood zone home owners to this. Were you at the summit? This is like comparing apples to oranges. Engaging in public consultation is not bull****.Bitching and complaining behind user names is not effective...or credible.

Posted by: jakeadoo on November 2 2010 11:31 PM

That's funny!Bitching and complaining behind user names.Until the authority's are willing to stop protecting the f!@#$@# gangbangers and start printing names and photos after they are arrested,or stop with the bullshit comment,"Are known to police",I will continue to use a user name and protect my rights and freedoms.So what are the authority's and higher up's response to this?Did anyone bother to ask that question?I couldn't attend as I had to go to work and from what I read in the citizen,only 200 people were allowed to attend the free public forum, with a city having a population of 76,000.Don't tell me that I should be part of the solution and take two days off work,plus pay $55 dollars to attend a session to plan for more studies.I have tried to deal with the problem in my neighbourhood,only to hit a brick wall.

Posted by: Harbinger on November 3 2010 10:12 AM

No black and white and white solutions to this issue.Well, there's yer excuse for talking, yakking, chatting, discussing, verbalizing over, and communicating this dilemma for the next twelve years. As long as the printing presses work we will have all the money we need for these meetings. I am old and cynical, but the only conclusion about life I have is "ther only thing people understand is "violence". Maybe when BC becomes like Mexico and it's killings, maybe we will talk less. Are they having mucho success in Mexico with these kinds of forums? Maybe the law can change the definition of a "forum" is a place you can go and sit and talk and wring yer hands and moan, "Woe is us". Talk is cheap. It's also boring. I could go on....

Posted by: dnakamura on November 3 2010 10:08 PM

Jakeadoo I have two words for you...Block Watch. I signed up as Block Watch captain in my neighbourhood because I was tired of the gang activity that was deteriorating our quality of life. As citizens, we have huge power believe it or not. I don't lean on the RCMP or Community Policing to do all of the work because they have limited resources. Fear is what gangs bank on so people keep their mouths shut. I refuse to let these thugs have control over my life. If you hit a brick wall, climb over it. It's time that we quit isolating ourselves to our homes, our computers, T.V.s, get to know our neighbours and take back our neighbourhoods!

Posted by: jakeadoo on November 4 2010 12:16 AM

I am the only person in my neighbourhood outside walking my dog at 9 or 10 at night.I am also the most visible presence out front on weekends most of the time.When we have talked to other neighbours about the situation the response was,"we do not want to get involved as we have our childrens safety to think about",meaning they do not want to be threatened or have to worry about retribution such as having they're house sprayed with bullets.By the way D.Nakamura,how well has all the block watch worked out for you,have they not been in your area for many,many years?

Posted by: dnakamura on November 4 2010 9:02 PM

Jakeadoo,Block Watch has worked very successfully in my neighbourhood. Because I deal with the individuals directly and I don't involve the RCMP when I don't have to. I have found that sorting out issues personally, one on one has been the key success factor in our neighbourhood. And yes they've been in my neighbourhood for quite some time.