Pubdate: Sun, 17 Apr 2016
Source: Province, The (CN BC)
Copyright: 2016 Postmedia Network Inc.
Contact:  http://www.theprovince.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/476
Author: Kim Bolan
Page: 14

FIGHT AGAINST GANGS GETS $23M GOV'T BOOST

The B.C. government will spend $23 million more for police, 
prosecutors and programs to combat the province's gang and gun problems.

Premier Christy Clark announced the new funding in Surrey, where 
there have been 32 shootings so far this year, primarily over 
drug-trade turf wars.

But she stressed that B.C.'s gang problem is not isolated to one 
community because gangsters are like "cockroaches" who move 
frequently to ply their illegal trade.

"The frequency and public nature of recent gang shootings is 
unacceptable and demands this additional, strategic deployment of 
resources. People deserve to feel safe no matter where they live in 
B.C.," Clark said Friday. "This needs to be a provincewide 
initiative." The money is going to several programs:

■ B.C.'s anti-gang unit, the Combined Forces Special 
Enforcement Unit, will create two new 10-person teams "to support 
police in communities around the province," Clark said.

■ Some money will go to an existing program that targets the 
most violent gangsters and their networks, no matter where they are in B.C.

■ Funds, which will be "flowing immediately," will pay for 
dedicated prosecutors to push cases against priority criminals, Clark said.

■ She said there would also be money for increasing the 
capacity for electronic monitoring of high-risk offenders when 
they're on bail or serving sentences in the community.

■ Crime Stoppers will get $450,000 in cash to offer rewards to 
those with information about gangs or guns.

■ Some of the money will be put into CFSEU's successful End 
Gang Life program, where officers do presentations to schools and 
community groups around B.C.

■ Funding will also be used to establish an Office of Crime 
Reduction and Gang Outreach, which will help gangsters wanting to 
change their lives.

■ The province is also creating an illegal firearms task force 
to study and strengthen provincial and federal programs related to 
illegal firearms.

The news was welcomed by Surrey Mayor Linda Hepner and RCMP deputy 
commissioner Craig Callens, the top RCMP officer in B.C.

Surrey-Newton NDP MLA Harry Bains was also pleased the government was 
finally investing in resources to fight the violence.

But he said there wasn't enough focus in the announcement on 
prevention programs.

"There are parents out there who are looking for support when they 
see their child is having some problems and may be moving in the 
wrong direction and they are not getting the support right now," he said.

Bains said some of the money should be going to the Integrated 
Homicide Investigation Team, given that dozens of gang murders in 
recent years remain unsolved.

His own nephew Arun Bains was gunned down in Surrey a year ago and 
the murder remains unsolved.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom