GANGS TARGETED
Mayor’s task force aims to steer kids away from organized crime and violence
Surrey intends to step up measures aimed at keeping youths out of gangs and helping those who are already involved in organized crime to leave as part of its plan to deal with gang violence in the city.
On Tuesday, almost nine months after it was formed, the Mayor’s Task Force on Gang Violence Prevention released its final report, which contained recommendations that also called for the launch of a program to allow businesses such as nightclubs to ban suspected gangsters.
“I want to acknowledge the collective pain our community has suffered in the last few weeks,” Mayor Linda Hepner said, referring to a recent spate of fatal shootings. “Lives have been lost and families have been destroyed, and the entire community mourns for the loss of these victims of violence. We are devastated, but our commitment to tackling gang violence together is stronger than ever.”
Hepner said the city would “double down” on deterrence efforts by partnering with the federal and provincial governments to develop neighbourhood-specific prevention programs. The task force said young people living in certain neighbourhoods — west Guildford and east Newton, in particular — are at greater risk of becoming involved with the gang lifestyle.
“Without additional support and care, they may experience future challenges in school and society — challenges like the lure of gang life, and we do not want that to happen,” Hepner said.
The city will open a new Surrey Centre for Community Safety, in partnership with Kwantlen Polytechnic University, Simon Fraser University, the school district and RCMP to coordinate existing and new programming.
Surrey will also ask the province to provide more funding for the End Gang Life: Gang Exiting and Outreach Pilot project, which was launched in November 2016 and has helped 100 people to date.
Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General Mike Farnworth said on Tuesday that the province will provide an additional $238,000 at the end of the fiscal year, but the city is seeking money beyond the pilot phase.
Another recommendation is to support the Surrey RCMP in developing and implementing an “inadmissible patron program,” similar to Bar Watch and Restaurant Watch. Hepner mentioned such an initiative almost a year ago, during a speech to the Surrey Board of Trade.
Another way the city plans to move ahead with the recommendations is to double the size of Surrey RCMP’s gang enforcement team. However, the officer in charge of the detachment, Assistant Commissioner Dwayne McDonald, would not specify how many people are currently on the team or how many will be added. He said the new members would be recruited from within the detachment.
Gordie Hogg, MP for South Surrey-White Rock, said he looks forward to working with the city on developing the best possible programs for prevention and early intervention to deal with gang violence.
“We have to do everything we can, and I think this is an excellent start with the research that has been done, the task force recommendations,” Hogg said.
Farnworth said the province is committed to working with the city, and announced it will provide $1.12 million in additional funding to expand the Expect Respect and a Safe Education anti-bullying program to include new training focused on gang and gun violence prevention.
The task force and its recommendations did come under some criticism on Tuesday by those who said it offered little in the way of new ideas and who expressed doubt that any real change would be coming.
Doug Elford, who is vying for a council seat with the Surrey Community Alliance, said the recommendations were reasonable and well thought out, but he is skeptical about if they will be implemented.
“We have been through countless task forces, we’ve seen policy reports, we’ve had public forums, and we still seem to never resolve the real problem,” Elford said. “We look at it a little skeptically because we’ve heard this before, we’ve heard these promises.
“I think the community really wants action. We’re tired of listening. We want to see progress. We want to see action, and we want to see results.”
Stuart Parker, a council candidate with Proudly Surrey, called the report “predictably disappointing.”
“This is a civic government that has been sitting on the crime file now for 10 years, and most of these recommendations simply involve more consultation with other levels of government and increased funding for some existing successful programs,” he said. “What we need is a fairly dramatic leap forward and a fairly dramatic reappraisal of what we’re doing.”
Proudly Surrey also released its platform for dealing with gang violence on Tuesday. It suggests creating a municipal police force and redesigning the city to make it less friendly to gang activity.
On Monday, a poll revealed that a majority of Surrey residents believe that their city is the least safe in Metro Vancouver. Respondents were unhappy with how the federal, provincial and municipal governments are dealing with crime in Surrey, where gun violence has been in the news for the past few weeks.
We are devastated, but our commitment to tackling gang violence together is stronger than ever.” Mayor Linda Hepner