Pubdate: Wed, 13 Jun 2007
Source: Montreal Gazette (CN QU)
Copyright: 2007 The Gazette, a division of Southam Inc.
Contact:  http://www.canada.com/montreal/montrealgazette/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/274
Author: Hubert Bauch, The Gazette
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine)

CRIME GANGS GETTING MORE ORGANIZED

Use Of Latest Technology, Mergers Cited In Report

A growing problem with organized crime is that it's getting more organized.

A report released yesterday by province's criminal information 
service, which pools information from various police forces in the 
province, says there are now more than 300 criminal groups active in 
Quebec and they are increasingly working with each other and using 
the latest technologies to pursue illicit activities.

"Organized crime is becoming more complex," said Montreal police 
chief Yvan Delorme, who heads the information service's management 
committee. "They work with the Internet, with all the new technology. 
All the gangs now have their whiz kids with technological know-how. 
Organized crime has no more borders. What we're seeing is the 
globalization of organized crime."

As in the corporate world, criminal organizations resort increasingly 
to mergers to extend their activities,

"We're seeing more and more mergers between different gangs," Delorme 
said. "They're working together at different levels."

For example, bikers import cocaine and then distribute it to street 
gangs that retail the product, the report says.

The drug trade is the principal criminal activity in Quebec, the 
report says, with different groups specializing in specific areas, 
from financing to importing to retailing.

Other crime activities include telemarketing fraud, money laundering, 
theft and fencing stolen goods, vehicle theft, prostitution and 
illegal firearms.

The report says the visible growth of street gangs has been the most 
notable aspect of criminal activity during the past year and that 
street gangs tend to be most prone to violence, including in the 
province's prison system.

However, Delorme said that, on the whole, street gang violence is in 
decline. "We're not seeing more violence in the streets of Montreal 
with street gangs."

Street gangs are the main preoccupation of the Montreal police force, 
but are now spreading their tentacles to other parts of the province, 
the report says. Street gangs are mainly engaged in drug selling and 
prostitution, though they are also actively involved in bank fraud 
through debit cards that are bought from young people, or cloned.

Home invasions are another growing street gang activity.

To fight the criminals, the police are doing what the criminals are 
doing - pooling resources and keeping up with the latest technology, 
Delorme said.

"The information service is a tool for police departments to exchange 
information, to follow the development of crime in Quebec and the 
rest of Canada. We have to be ahead of them in the use of technology 
to fight organized crime."

Delorme stressed citizen co-operation with police forces is vital in 
the continuing battle with organized crime.

"If we don't have the complicity of citizens, we won't be able to do 
the job. It's important if people see something going on in their 
vicinity that they call Info-Crime, something they can do anonymously 
and in security."
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman