Pubdate: Tue, 14 Apr 2009
Source: Abbotsford Times (CN BC)
Copyright: 2009 The Abbotsford Times
Contact:  http://www.abbotsfordtimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1009
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v09/n390/a08.html

DOWNPLAYING GANG REALITY ISN'T PRUDENT

If Gordon Campbell really believes a British newspaper report on 
B.C.'s gang violence is "a cheap shot," the premier is in serious 
denial over the scope of the problem.

Campbell made the comment this week after a story in The Independent 
last Sunday suggested the city's idyllic reputation had been eroded 
by the 21 fatal targeted shootings since January.

The story, which describes a "suburban civil war" on Greater 
Vancouver's "blood-spattered streets," recounts the rise in organized 
crime over the past two decades as the province's marijuana crops 
found international markets.

The story also quotes Vancouver police Chief Jim Chu on the rise in 
violence: "We've always been told by media experts to never admit 
that there is a gang war," he said. "Let's get serious. There is a 
gang war and it's brutal."

Campbell's response to the story? "It's a shame that you have got 
some people that are going to try and take some cheap shots," he 
said. "It will be a great Olympics and I'm sure The Independent will 
write the great stories when the time comes."

Recent arrests and prosecutions in the Lower Mainland offer a ray of 
hope. Also, police rarely warn in advance of their actions in these 
cases, so it's possible there is more going on in the fight against 
gangs than the public has seen so far.

But the province's continued reluctance to seriously consider the 
amalgamation of the patchwork of municipal police forces to tackle 
the problem is a mystery.

As the killings mount, bad-news stories about B.C.'s gang problem 
continue to appear in newspapers around the world - as they should.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom