Working Together to Eliminate Gangs

By 250 News

Prince George, B.C. - Gang activity in a community can be stopped, but it will take a coordinated effort.  That’s the message from Rick Stewart, an analyst with the Drug and Organized Crime Awareness Service in B.C.

Stewart spent the better part of the day sharing his knowledge with police officers from all over the   Central Interior.  A  session at the  North District  RCMP  building this morning  saw  officers from several detachments including Prince George,  100 Mile House,  Quesnel and Williams Lake get an update on the latest tactics being used by gangs, and by police.

This is the first time such a session has been held outside the lower mainland. Stewart says that isn’t because the situation here is worse than in other centres, it is simply that   an invitation was extended to have Stewart share information with the public and professionals.

The activities of gangs in Prince George hit a new level on Christmas Eve when there was a brawl in the parking lot of the Pine Centre Mall.  Much to the delight of shoppers, cash was wafting through the air.  Less than a month later, one young man was shot and killed, another suffered a “flesh wound” in a targeted shooting at a popular restaurant.

Why is Prince George seeing increased gang activity?  Stewart says it is simple “You will find that in larger centres, gangs, or any kind of major crime, becomes under the spotlight for police agencies and are targeted as such.  Therefore, to get around some of that, they (gangs) look for different areas and more comfortable areas to operate in.” Stewart says gangs are taking advantage of the smaller communities because, if, for instance, there is an emergency, resources have to be pooled, and there may not be enough officers to focus on one area such as gang activity. Stewart also says  investigating gang activity  means dealing with many layers and  in  order to  get a conviction,  the process takes a great deal of time.

There are three known gangs operating in Prince George, the Renegades, the Crew and the Independent Soldiers.  Police are not certain how many people may be involved in all three gangs as loyalties shift and there is movement from one to another.

 Stewart says  its  important  for  people to know why  young people want to  get involved in gang activity,  “It’s also important  to  knows some of the risk factors, some of the identifiers,  such as graffiti and clothing and  just give  them (the public) an awareness.”

A gang problem is a community problem” says Stewart “The police are one portion of the community, the schools, the government and the health.  They need to say this is the type of behaviour we are not going to tolerate.  If you want to be a crime free, drug free, gang free community, you have to be a healthy community.”

Developing that kind of integrated approach is a long haul says Stewart “All the anti gang studies I have looked at indicate the most successful ones are the ones where everyone has worked together.”

Stewart  recognizes  it isn’t easy  to sway kids away from  wanting to  get involved in gang life, “But there is some significant adult in that  young person’s life, be it teacher,  be it coach,  aunt, uncle, grandparent, its just a matter of finding our what numbers to press  that enable kids to listen. “

He says getting the message out to young people means using new methods “Do we text it out? Do we go on to social networks like YouTube or myspace?  The gangs are out there doing it, they’re on line recruiting.  We have to be just as creative or more creative.”

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