Pubdate: Thu, 03 Jun 2004
Source: National Post (Canada)
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Copyright: 2004 Southam Inc.
Contact:  http://www.nationalpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/286
Author: Allan Woods, National Post
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth)

YOUTH GANG 'EPIDEMIC' PREDICTED

Almost Half Of Gang Members Linked To Organized Crime, Federal Report Says

Almost half of Canada's 6,760 youth gang members work for or with 
established organized crime groups in drug trafficking, extortion, 
prostitution, car theft and other criminal enterprises, according to the 
country's first-ever report on youth gang activity.

The report, which was commissioned by the federal Solicitor-General and 
obtained by the National Post, warns that Canada's youth gang problem 
appears to be increasing and could reach the epidemic levels seen in the 
United States if it is not dealt with.

"Survey results show that a majority of law-enforcement officials believe 
that the youth gang problem is going to get worse in Canada," the report said.

"Policy makers and community leaders in Canada may wish to pay attention to 
the U.S. experience, which confirms that once youth gangs become 
established within communities, they can rapidly proliferate."

Canada's youth gang population (defined as a group of people younger than 
21 that can fairly be classed as a "gang") is small compared to the United 
States' more than 700,000-member gang population, which increased 
seven-fold between 1980 and 2000.

Policing experts, however, say Canadian crime trends usually follow about a 
decade behind those of the United States.

"Toronto reminds me of L.A. 15 years ago," Detective Tony Moreno, a gang 
expert with the Los Angeles Police Department, said in a recent interview 
in Toronto.

Det. Moreno, whose career as a gang cop formed the basis of Sean Penn's 
character in the movie Colors, has given gang seminars to police across 
Canada and his trained eye has watched the problem grow steadily.

"The baddest gang member in Ottawa is as bad as any criminal in L.A. Ottawa 
just may not have as many of them," he said. "It's just like the worst 
criminal in Toronto or in Winnipeg is as bad as the worst criminal in New 
York or Chicago. It just hasn't reached that level yet."

Investigator Hector Alecia, a gang cop with the New York State Police, said 
California authorities warned his force in 1996 that California gangs were 
migrating north.

"We were like, 'Yeah, yeah.' We knew it was coming but we never really paid 
attention to it. All of a sudden, we were absorbed by it," he said.

Already, 44% of Canadian youth gangs are believed to have links to 
aboriginal and Asian organized crime groups and Outlaw biker gangs, the 
report found.

The survey was prepared by Toronto-based gang consultant Michael 
Chettleburgh, head of Astwood Strategy Corp. and Fraudbox Inc., a corporate 
fraud consulting firm. The results were compiled from 283 responding police 
agencies across the country.

Because the 2002 Canadian Police Survey on Youth Gangs is the first of its 
kind, it does not note any increases in activity or membership. However, 
the survey is modeled on an annual U.S. study that law enforcement has 
credited with helping track the problem.

The Canadian study indicates that while Ontario was among the latest to 
report the onset of youth gang activity -- Surrey, B.C., in 1975, was the 
first municipality to report gang activity -- it is now among the busiest, 
with 216 youth gangs and 3,320 gang members.

Saskatchewan, with 935 members in 22 gangs, had the highest concentration 
of youth gang members in Canada, with one per 100,000 people. Ninety-six 
per cent of those were aboriginal youths, the report found.

More than one-third of British Columbian youth gang members were Asian. 
Black youths made up more than a third of gang members in Ontario and half 
in Quebec. In Nova Scotia, gang membership was split roughly between black 
and white youths.

In a nod to Canada's racial diversity, it found more than one-third of the 
country's youth gangs are of mixed ethnicity. Provincially, 51% of 
Ontario's gangs are of mixed race, followed by 46% in British Columbia.

"It's less stereotypical," a knowledgeable gang source said. "You could 
have a white kid as a member of the Crips."

Police have also found increased recruitment of female members in the 
predominately male world of street gangs. This is especially true in B.C., 
where females make up 12% of the province's gang population, as well as 
Manitoba (10%) and Saskatchewan (9%)

The findings suggest police across the country may not be fully prepared to 
cope with the gang problem, especially outside of big cities. Although 
almost half of the responding police agencies use a computerized gang 
intelligence database to track activity, only 14% have a specialized gang 
unit or dedicated officers to visit schools, talk to troubled kids or 
patrol known gang hangouts.

Constable Todd Cox, a gang officer in Windsor, Ont., said 
intelligence-sharing -- in the form of a Canada-wide or province-wide 
database -- is increasingly important in the fight against youth gangs.

"If you have a gang member in Windsor and you can pull up a database that 
says this person is known in Toronto, you have to start looking at why 
they're in Windsor," he said.

A spokesman with Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Canada declined 
to comment on the report until it is officially released.
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