Pubdate: Sat, 09 Jun 2007
Source: Cambridge Times (CN ON)
Copyright: 2007 Fairway Newspaper Group
Contact:  http://www.cambridgetimes.ca
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3423
Author: Melissa Hancock, Cambridge

CRACKING DOWN ON GUNS AND GANGS

Provincial funding targeted at gangs, guns, and grow  ops is welcomed
news for Waterloo Regional Police.

"It's a significant contribution...and it allows us to  network with
other services," said media relations and  executive officer Bryan
Larkin, of the Waterloo  Regional Police Service (WRPS).

Wednesday's annoucement by Ontario's Premier Dalton  McGuinty will
assist local police services to target  gangs, guns, marijuana grow
operations and other  criminal activities.

The McGuinty government is investing $6.3 million to  expand an
anti-guns and gangs and anti-violence  intervention program to several
communities outside of  Toronto, including Waterloo Region.

"Our community is not free of gangs," Larkin said, adding that
regional investigations sometimes lead the service to other
municipalities.

But with the government funding, he said the WRPS will  benefit by
networking with other services in places  like Toronto, where gangs,
guns and other organized  crime levels are higher.

"It's important for us to stay ahead of the curb," he
added.

The provincial funding announcement also includes: a  crystal
methamphetamine elimination project to target  criminal organizations
that produce it; increasing the  capacity of the office of the fire
marshal to  investigate fires and explosions from meth labs and
marijuana operations; creating a provincial advisory  group on
marijuana grow operations; and enhancing the  capacity of the Ontario
Provincial Police, working with  municipal police services, to
identify, locate, seize  and forfeit the illegal gains from criminal
organizations.

The initiatives build on the government's $51-million  Guns and Gangs
Strategy that was announced last year.

In a statement, Premier Dalton McGuinty said, "Tackling  gun crimes is
a complex challenge - and criminal gangs  are always adapting and
evolving - so we're giving our  police services the resources they need."
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MAP posted-by: Derek