Gazette - How are street gangs evolving in your city?

PANEL DISCUSSION

The panellists

• A/Insp Kevin Galvin, Organized Crime Branch, Edmonton Police Service
• S/Sgt Mike Callaghan, Youth – Guns and Gangs Unit, Ottawa Police Service
• D/Cst Carol Campbell-Waugh, crime analyst, Halifax Regional Police

A/Insp Kevin Galvin

The current state of organized crime groups in the Edmonton and northern Alberta region has come about more as a revolution than an evolution. If we are to consider the street gang to be a localized, turf-oriented, marginally organized group with a minimal hierarchy that commits crime upon a narrowly focused objective, then our region has experienced very little in the way of street gangs but is flush with well-organized, well-educated, sophisticated criminal networks and organized crime groups.

Prior to the 1980s, organized crime entities in our area were oriented around traditional organized crime (TOC) groups and outlaw motorcycle gangs (OMG). Pre- and post-Second World War immigration into the Edmonton region saw people of Mediterranean, Asian, Eastern European and Middle Eastern descent establishing very closely knit yet insular communities in the city and region. It was from these communities that the TOC groups emerged. In comparison to the OMG groups of the day, these crime groups operated with a level of organization, sophistication and class that the OMG clubs did not possess. This environment, complicated by the urban sprawl of the major centres and large distances between those centres, allowed the TOC groups to operate with relative anonymity in relation to police enforcement.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the Edmonton region saw the first sign of street gangs in the form of organized crime groups developing from the new immigrants of southwest and southeast Asia. Many of the groups operated in a street gang format. They had a loose hierarchical structure, discernible through tattoos and distinctive markings, clothing and vehicles. Their prime commodity was cocaine distribution and trafficking. Project KACHOU, a joint forces organized crime investigation that focused on the main crime groups, caused further fracturing of this community but also educated all the operating crime groups in the region to the few tactics and strategies that the police could use.

After a brief gang war that started in 1999 between the splinter groups from Project KACHOU and other burgeoning crime groups in the region, the organized crime community quickly coalesced around the emerging economy in the region. Today, police in Edmonton are dealing with a level of collaboration, co-operation, flexibility and agility between groups that we have never seen before. This current relationship is directly attributable to the state of the economy in the province. Currently, the Metro Edmonton Gang Unit recognizes 25 operating criminal enterprises, 24 of which have provincial–territorial, national and international organized crime capacity.

Our response to this phenomenon has been to create an enforcement unit that is as flexible and agile as the groups we are investigating. The Metro Edmonton Gang Unit is fully integrated with the RCMP Provincial Capital District and is partially funded by the Alberta Solicitor General. This relationship allows us to travel within the province in order to investigate the members of the groups in areas outside our traditional jurisdictional boundaries. We rely on the full spectrum of investigative opportunities — from basic bar walks and house visits to advanced techniques like surveillance operations and private communication intercepts — to combat the rapidly growing level of gang-related and gang-motivated activities in Western Canada.

S/Sgt Mike Callaghan

In 2001, the Ottawa Police Service (OPS) formally recognized that street gangs were emerging in the city of Ottawa. As a result, a two-person Gang Investigation Unit was formed. This unit quickly identified approximately eight gangs, with an aggregate number of approximately 100 members, operating in the streets of Ottawa.

Since that time, the OPS Guns and Gangs Unit has expanded to include 11 sworn officers and a youth intervention co-ordinator. The number of street gangs identified in Ottawa now encompasses approximately 600 members and approximately 19 confirmed street gangs. Unlike many other cities in Canada, the typical street gang in Ottawa reveals a multicultural composition, with an average age of between 17 and 25 years.

In January 2006, police intelligence indicated that of the 600 confirmed gang members in Ottawa, 314 were born outside Canada. Additionally, the two predominant gangs, the “Bloods” and the “Crips,” were composed of 57 different nationalities. The majority of the gang members were male — only 30 female gang members were identified — and only 56 gang members were under the age of 18. Ottawa has also seen the advent of hybrid gangs, a multicultural group of individuals who get together in a less organized manner than traditional street gangs, with more focus on economic than turf factors.

Over the past two years, the OPS has seen a significant increase in the mobility of street gangs in Ottawa. Ottawa gang members are not only transient within the Toronto–Ottawa–Montreal corridor, but they are also a subject of interest to police services in the western provinces.

While trafficking of drugs and firearms — along with profits related to the control of prostitution — are strong sources of income for street gangs, the level of sophistication in the control of these elements has also evolved. Sexual exploitation of young girls is on the rise and there appears to be a very complex network of gang-related members and associates that facilitate the scourge of sexual exploitation.

It is safe to say that suppression and law enforcement agencies play a key role in addressing the problems related to street gangs. However, it goes without saying that education and awareness play an equally important role in preventing gang-related violence.

Targeting prevention efforts at children aged eight and under, as well as their guardians/parents, may prove beneficial. By the age of nine, many children in more underprivileged neighbourhoods have been approached by gang members.

Additionally, addressing gangs in a holistic manner is paramount. This must incorporate dealing with the victim, the offender, the families and the communities involved. The OPS’s Youth Intervention and Diversion Program, which operates in collaboration with the Ottawa Boys and Girls Club, is a key partner in ensuring that the risk factors and the source of the gang problem are identified and dealt with in a timely, meaningful and appropriate manner.

D/Cst Carol Campbell-Waugh

In Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM), street gangs are a concern because their violent actions are often carried out in public. While other provinces have reports of street gangs fighting internally or with rival gangs, violence in HRM tends to be random and not within or between gangs. Territorial issues are not common in HRM, but gang-motivated crimes do involve violence, and that creates concerns for public safety.

Members of street gangs in HRM are predominantly young adults. They may start out bullying other students at school, but they eventually graduate to more serious offences including mischief, assault, street-level robbery, theft, use of firearms and other weapons, and drug trafficking. Members of some gangs are reported to be involved in prostitution, and a few have been charged with attempted murder.

The most active gangs in HRM include the Northend Darkside and the Young Mob, but there are other gangs that are very sporadic in their activities and membership. Many groups are spontaneous in their criminal activity and possess low- to mid-level criminal capabilities. The majority of the gangs in HRM are not mobile; therefore, their activities are concentrated in their areas of residence.

Many gangs are not likely to evolve into more criminally sophisticated organizations. However, some gangs do have direct links to other organized crime groups in the area. Members of the Young Mob are being used by an organized crime group to intimidate people with assaults and other crimes, and to force people to sell drugs. Other known criminal organizations have street gangs committing vehicle thefts on their behalf.

In 2004, the Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics completed a study entitled Criminal Victimization in Canada. The study revealed that among 17 Canadian cities surveyed, Halifax had the highest violent crime rate, with 229 violent incidents for every 1,000 people over age 15. Youth gangs, with their involvement in violent street-level robberies, assaults and weapons offences, were a major contributing factor.

To help address some of the violence and the public safety concerns, Halifax Regional Police developed several initiatives, including:

• a Quick Response Unit that acts as a patrol resource and helps address short-term crime trends and criminal activity
• an intelligence-led policing model that positions criminal operations as a front-line resource
• the Community Officer Program, which takes community-based policing one step further to gather ground-level intelligence
• beat officers who patrol busier areas and help address public safety concerns;
• a Gang Portfolio, which keeps track of gang members, their associates and their activities
• Operation Breach, an initiative that sends officers to check compliance of individuals on conditional release

These initiatives appear to have reduced the number of violent offences carried out in public spaces. For example, there were 528 robberies in HRM in 2005 and 570 in 2006, compared to 403 in 2007. Furthermore, based on preliminary numbers, directed patrol initiatives in known gang neighbourhoods have seen a reduction in violent incidents.