Last year Prince George’s most violent in a decade
Prince George’s top cop said 2017 was the most violent year the city has seen in the last 10.
In an interview with the Citizen, Prince George RCMP superintendent Warren Brown said the numbers of homicides has reached the highest level since the years of 2008-09, when organized crime activity made national headlines. Brown said the incidents of violent crime, such as homicides, are often the result of gang activity in the city.
Last month, Brown reported to Prince George city council that the city had recorded seven homicides in 2017.
“Last year was a higher than above average but not inconsistent with the previous years,” Brown said on Wednesday.
“You go back to the late 2000s, 2008-2009, I think we had some years that were higher but certainly last year I would say was probably the most violent year we’ve had in the last decade.”
Prince George RCMP also recorded the highest number of calls for service in their history, at 43,973.
Brown said the vast majority of homicides in Prince George have been linked to the drug trade and organized crime.
But pinpointing which organized crime groups were responsible for the upswing in murders is difficult, partly due to the changing nature of gangs in Canada.
“Traditionally, when we think of gangs in Canada, we think mafia, we think of motorcycle gangs and Hell’s Angels,” Brown said.
“What we’ve seen is a shift away from that. Although that still exists, gangs have become much more fluid now.”
Brown said modern-day gangs are often less visible than traditional motorcycle gangs. What some might identify as a gang may simply be a group of indi- viduals connected by family ties or personal friendships. Most are driven by greed, money, and the drug trade. Local organized crime groups are largely overseen and controlled by Lower Mainland gangs, he said.
Brown said it is difficult to pinpoint which groups currently have an organized presence in the city.
“We don’t have any one gang here in Prince George. As organized as I say some of it can be, some of it is very un-organized,” he said.
Media reports have identified the Hells Angels as the dominant organized crime force in B.C. A posting on the website of the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit B.C. identified the Hells Angels as a “top-echelon criminal organization,” and noted that they maintain a puppet club in Prince George, the Renegades.
Brown acknowledged that there have been local sightings of individuals wearing jackets of another player, the Mongols, but that the group does not appear to have a local clubhouse.
“I can say we’ve actually seen people with the name Mongols on the back of their jackets here. But I would also say that at the present time I’m not aware of any one location where the gang has actually set up,” Brown said.
The Mongols are a motorcycle gang that began in California. The group has had a history of violent conflict with the Hells Angels in the United States.
Their website claims that the group has a chapter in both Toronto and Vancouver. A Facebook group entitled “Mongols MC Canada-Authorized” has several postings that appear to criticize the Hells Angels.
“That would be a very bad recipe to have here in Prince George, even though we don’t have a chartered Hell’s Angels club here. I would just say that would be very dangerous,” Brown said.
“So yes, we are aware of that threat. I would say that we’re probably in the stages of prevention and intervention with any sort of organized crime club that has (been) overt posting Facebook images and information.”
Brown said recent trials, such as those related to the murders of Jordan McLeod and Jordan Reno, have pulled person- nel away from day-to-day enforcement activity.
“Those are victories to get dangerous people off the street and prove the matter before the court, which serves society well at the end of the day for public safety.
“It also creates opportunities because of lack of enforcement in policing that’s happening. It allows environments to rebirth themselves,” Brown said.
Last month, city council approved an increase of the local RCMP budget, to allow the hiring of two additional staff.
The increase of new staff will bring the total to 142 RCMP personnel in Prince George.
Brown stressed that threats to public safety often do trump other considerations when it comes to resources of the local RCMP detachment.
“It doesn’t matter how busy we are or how pressured we are. If you’re going to compromise the safety of people in our community in Prince George, if you’re going to be that guy or the group of people that are going to create a threat to their neighbourhood, we will get more people here, we will get more resources here, and they will go to jail.”