Pubdate: Sat, 26 Jan 2008
Source: Kamloops Daily News (CN BC)
Copyright: 2008 Kamloops Daily News
Contact:  http://www.kamloopsnews.ca/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/679
Author: Jason Hewlett

GANG WARS

Kamloops RCMP are keeping close tabs on gangs and organized crime in 
town. But what can people on the sidelines expect?

When criminal gangs clash, guns and violence often play a role. And 
when that happens, innocent people can get hurt.

Kamloops RCMP are determined to make sure gang violence experienced 
in other cities doesn't migrate here - Insp. Yves Lacasse wants the 
public to know police aren't waiting for it to start before they do something.

The detachment recently created a full-time organized crime 
co-ordinator position to share information with law enforcement 
across the country, keep tabs on the movers and shakers in the gang 
and organized crime community, and make arrests accordingly.

"We are very alive to the issues involving gang violence and the drug 
trade," Lacasse said, citing a recent stabbing in the city.

"Within hours we had an army of 100 officers with a clear purpose and 
a clear focus. We did believe it involved gangs at this time, and we 
spent the time and the effort to resolve this case as soon as possible."

RCMP believe the incident may have involved the Independent Soldiers 
- - a street gang based in Western Canada with cells in Vancouver, 
Kelowna and Calgary - and the United Nations gang, an organized 
criminal group made up of many nationalities.

Competition between gangs - and the resulting violence - is making 
regular headlines in other cities. According to Sgt. Shinder Kirk of 
the B.C. Integrated Gang Task Force in Vancouver, once one group is 
pushed, it's only a matter of time before the other side pushes back.

"There's always the possibility of retaliation. There is no hiding 
that," he said."Certainly some of the cases we've seen in the past 
year or so could have been that - retaliation."

The motives behind gang violence are as difficult to decipher as the 
groups themselves, Kirk said. A drive-by shooting leaves little in 
the way of forensic evidence outside of a shell casing that can be 
bought at any gun store.

The weapons - handgun, shotgun or submachine gun - are usually 
illegally smuggled across the border from the U.S., he said.

"They aren't stolen from Canada in some break and enter," Kirk said.

The knife is pulled or the shot fired because of some slight or 
perceived slight. Sometimes a blow is struck because of a business 
deal gone wrong or a fight over a woman.

The most common commodity gangs battle over are drugs. Almost every 
group Lacasse has come across makes money off narcotics and related 
crimes. Kirk said Internet fraud, scams and guns are also sources of 
profit and conflict.

"They are fighting for the turf, fighting for the location to sell 
their drugs. Whether it be a bar, a town, a certain area of town, 
they are fighting for control of the drug trade," Lacasse said.

"Obviously, when they are crossing each other and not agreeing, 
unlike most business people who sit down at a table, they resort to violence."

Most of the people involved know each other in some way. Many are 
part of the same gang or have been at one time or another.

These people, Kirk said, are friends one minute, enemies the next.

Kirk calls these groups mid-level gangs. They aren't the street-level 
dial-a-doper and they aren't as organized or wide-reaching as mafia.

Members are largely young people in their 20s from a variety of 
ethnic backgrounds. Some, like the Independent Soldiers or UN Gang, 
develop a moniker for themselves.

"People are left with the impression that these are large, monolithic 
entities like organized crime, but they're not," he said.

"They are loosely structured and may have some or no hierarchy 
whatsoever. They may be a group of people that come together for a 
particular project and then disband."

What often happens, Kirk said, is that an individual or group arrives 
in a community and adopts the name of one of these organizations. 
This empowers them to conduct business by creating a sense of 
intimidation and fear.

Why have they come to Kamloops? Kirk said the city's geographical 
location as a transportation crossroads makes it an ideal place for 
gangs to ply their trade.

"Any community that affords an ability to make money - whether it be 
through the drug trade or less scrutiny by authorities or simply 
being able to blend into the background - is some place for these 
groups to establish themselves."

Their presence concerns Lacasse, who cited more than 20 gang-related 
killings in the Lower Mainland in less than two years. Many of the 
shootings occurred in the open and on busy streets.

He called the gangs "travelling criminals," and said the worry for 
him and his detachment is that this kind of violence is making it to Kamloops.

"Is there a possibility that this could happen in Kamloops one day? 
Absolutely. I hope not. Our job is to prevent this from happening," he said.

"We are not there now. I do not want the community and the city of 
Kamloops to worry, but they have to be alert to this issue."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom