ENOUGH IS ENOUGH IS ENOUGH

I do not believe that we can't win the war against gang violence. All
we need is the will to do so. I am getting sick and tired of seeing
the almost daily shootings in this province. While the problems may
mostly be taking place in the cities, we ruralites are far from immune.

Gang members seem to prowl our communities at their will, thumbing
their noses at conventional society and doing just as they damn well
please. I am fed up. Most of the current crop of hoodlums are simply
people without conscience, without any sort of respect for anyone or
anything. Mean, criminals that need to be in jail, period. Or, gasp -
if they are immigrants, deported as undesirable citizens.

Police arrest these nasty buggers, they appear before a judge, and
are back out on the streets within hours. This revolving door policy
needs to stop. The gangs view a few hours in jail as nothing more
than a minor inconvenience. Part of the price of doing their illicit
business. We are lucky more cops don't just throw up their hands in
despair and find a career that is more rewarding.

I am a little disappointed in Prime Minister Stephen Harper who
promised he would get tough on crime. With several shootings a week
happening in Calgary, it doesn't seem like his policy is doing much
good, at least not yet.

More cops are promised and of course, they are welcome; but if we
threw the book at these creeps, especially if they are repeat
offenders, maybe we would not have to be hiring more police. What a
wonderful place we could call Canada if we could turn all the money
we need for fighting evil into education and the welfare of our citizens.

The bottom line is we need to eradicate these gangs from our
communities. Period. Absolutely. The only way to do that is zero
tolerance. Decent men and women must stand up and let our police know
we are behind them, and will not continue to tolerate lenient,
bleeding heart courts.

I was very interested last week to see a new crime fighting tool
against marijuana grow ops has been developed that will let police
know where extra electricity is being directed, even if it is being
stolen. That will take a lot of these 'gardens' out of circulation,
which is where most of us would like to see gang criminals - out of
circulation. Where they cannot be shooting in the streets. I don't
much care if they shoot each other, but innocent people stand to get
in the crossfire. Its just a matter of time.

At least that's the way I see it.