Pubdate: Wed, 06 Apr 2016
Source: Peace Arch News (CN BC)
Copyright: 2016 Peace Arch News
Contact:  http://www.peacearchnews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1333

SILENCE OVER SAFETY

There are certainly huge metropolises in this world, particularly
south of the border, where gunfire doesn't merit a headline, and even
certain killings go unmentioned by the media.

Has Surrey become that kind of city?

According to Surrey RCMP - now belatedly confirming 31 incidents of
shots fired in the city since Jan. 1 - not every shooting incident
that takes place is a cause for alarm or public concern.

In justifying a lack of public announcements on such incidents, Supt.
Shawn Gill suggests police only send news releases out when they need
witnesses or when they believe such an incident poses a risk to
residents. He says the police don't want "to create fear where there
is no need to."

Reassuring words, perhaps, and certainly in line with past statements
from Surrey's political leaders that portray their city as safe, calm
and orderly.

Yet by not making shootings public - by not 'creating fear' - one
wonders if more damage is being done.

Shouldn't residents be worried, frightened and disturbed each and
every time the sound of potentially lethal gunfire rings through the
streets and outside our homes?

Perhaps it could be explained to us what the sound is of
non-threatening, non-risk-posing gunfire? Is there a simple way to
tell the benign variety from the deadly kind?

Our leaders acknowledge they know where most of this gunfire is coming
from. Most of it, they say, is connected to turf wars in the illegal
drug trade. A lot of the shootings are 'targeted', which means, we
suppose, that we can breathe a huge sigh of relief that the bullets
didn't have our names specifically inscribed on them.

As U.S. mobster Bugsy Siegel famously said, "Don't worry - we only
kill each other." But that wasn't exactly true, was it? Even in his
day, newspaper headlines regularly screamed about 'innocent
bystanders' - the collateral damage of cities plagued by rampant
gangsterism.

Is that the kind of environment residents are comfortable with, here
and now?

We have two choices: accept that our streets are at times dangerous -
and try to be part of the solution while doing our best to ensure
safety; or just go back to bed and not worry our heads, not
contributing to any undue panic.

The latter might be better PR for the city, but it doesn't make any of
us any safer.
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MAP posted-by: Matt