Pubdate: Fri, 17 Dec 2010
Source: Vancouver Sun (CN BC)
Copyright: 2010 The Vancouver Sun
Contact: http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/letters.html
Website: http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/477
Author: Daphne Bramham

IT'S TIME TO BITE THE BULLET ON GANG AND DRUG PROBLEMS

Progress Has Been Made but the Root Causes Must Be Addressed

Al Capone and Chicago nearly 100 years ago, Mafia families with their 
godfathers -- all provide riveting narratives for movies, books and television.

But when real bullets start flying in your own neighbourhood, at a 
favourite restaurant or the mall where your kids hang out with their 
friends, gangs don't seem so intriguing. And they certainly don't seem benign.

The largest gunfight yet in Metro Vancouver happened last weekend in 
Mayor Gregor Robertson's leafy neighbourhood. Robertson, who is also 
the head of the Vancouver police commission, called it shocking, 
despicable and scary.

Ten people were injured when a masked gunman with an assault rifle 
opened fire on guests leaving an Oak Street restaurant about 2 a.m. Sunday.

For a long time, we've known that Metro Vancouver's got a drug 
problem, which has bred a gang problem. And as much as we'd love to 
think it's confined to the suburbs, the nightclub district or even 
the Downtown Eastside, that's never been true.

Drugs, prostitution and crime are lucrative. Rich gang leaders live, 
dine and dance in all the best places, not the worst. They want to be 
seen. They want to be noticed in their sleek and sexy fast cars. One 
witness who lives nearby described the Saturday night party guests as 
"walk[ing] around with egos the size of skyscrapers."

But most of all gangsters are risk takers of the highest order who 
want to be both noticed and feared.

They're succeeding because it's hard to feel safe.

It was blind luck that no one unconnected to the party was struck.

But when might the next stray bullet hit an innocent? What if that 
bullet hits you?

There's no pattern to where these ambushes, gunfights and targeted 
hits occur. There's no warning when they're about to take place.

As frightening as all that uncertainty makes it, there will never be 
enough police to keep every citizen safe every minute of every day.

But we need to remember that as bad as this seems -- 10 injured in a 
single outburst -- this is not Chicago in the 1920s. It's not South 
Central Los Angeles. It's not even Abbotsford, which has the 
distinction of having the most murders per capita, or Regina, Sask., 
which has the highest level of violent crime.

As my Sun colleague Kim Bolan points out in her blog, 2010 has been 
less violent than 2009. The murder rate across the Lower Mainland is down.

There are many senior members of mid-level gangs behind bars awaiting 
trial. Others have been charged or convicted in the U.S. in the last 12 months.

Groups such as the United Nations and Red Scorpions are shadows of 
their former selves.

Of course, statistics are cold comfort against the blaze of fear that 
must surely follow when you've been awakened suddenly in the middle 
of the night only to realize that the noise isn't firecrackers but gunshots.

Vancouver has a problem with gangs and drugs. But rather than 
cowering in our homes, we need to act boldly.

Solving it will take all the tools, cooperation and intelligence we can muster.

We need to address the root causes by figuring out how to keep young 
men out of gangs and finding a way to end the illicit trade in drugs 
by asking hard questions about both the supply and demand sides of 
the drug trade.

We need to do this because every neighbourhood should be a safe one.

But unfortunately, there's no magic bullet for that.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom