POLICE SHARE STRATEGIES FOR FIGHTING STREET GANGS

Battle Has To Be Won One Kid At A Time, Los Angeles Officer Tells
Colleagues

GANG members are no longer "just a bunch of thugs" flexing their muscle
on the street but are part of increasingly sophisticated syndicates of
organized crime.

That's the message from police who gathered from across the country in
Winnipeg this week to share strategies for breaking the criminal grip on
crimes such as drug trafficking and prostitution.

"They are organized criminal groups," said Luciano Bentenuto, special
projects co-ordinator with the Canadian Security Intelligence Service.

"They're not just a bunch of thugs anymore."

While there are 31 known street gangs in Manitoba, there are really four
big ones, he added: the Manitoba Warriors, Indian Posse, the Deuce and
Native Syndicate.

Most are run by adults.

And police say the best weapon officers have in dealing with the gangs
is meetings like this, he said, where professionals get together to
share strategies and techniques in battling them.

This week, 221 members of various law enforcement organizations --
including police, parole, probation, corrections and federal and
provincial justice departments -- met in Winnipeg to try to come up with
some solutions.

Special agents from the FBI were also on hand to share their expertise
during the four-day seminar, which wraps up today.

"You have to believe that it can be done," Det. Tony Mareno, a street
gang officer with the Los Angeles Police Department, told reporters
yesterday following an all-day closed meeting called the 2001 Canadian
Street Gang Workshop.

But he said it's something that has to be accomplished one kid at a time
and the best cops are those that can reach them and pull them out of the
vicious cycle of gang membership.

"It's not something you can wave a magic wand over," he said.

While Winnipeg's street gang problem doesn't compare with cities like
Los Angeles -- where there were 330 gang-related murders last year --
it's still a serious and growing problem as the gangs become more and
more sophisticated, said Sgt. Rick Lobban, head of this city's street
gang unit.

"We're getting there," he said.

In the last two years alone, the number of Winnipeg gang members has
grown to about 1,900 active members from 1,400, said Lobban.