LET'S TAKE UP THE FIGHT AGAINST GANG CRIME ONE STEP AT THE TIME

As recent murders have shown, gang crime appears to be flourishing in
the Lower Mainland. And we believe that is largely due to our
permissive West Coast attitude toward the illegal drug trade and to a
liberal justice system that seems determined to do little to deter
it.

There are encouraging signs, however, of a sharp change in public
opinion.

And the turning point seems to be last month's cowardly murder of
fireplace repairman Ed Schellenberg and another innocent man, both
victims of an apparent Surrey drug hit that claimed six lives.

Last week, Schellenberg's grieving brother-in-law Steve Brown spoke
out from the heart about what needs to be done.

In an interview with Province columnist Mike Smyth, he put our
politicians and judges on the spot.

"Where are the politicians vowing to put a stop to this madness? Where
are the judges with enough guts to put these criminals behind bars for
a long time?" Brown asked. "I'm fed up with it." And so are many
ordinary British Columbians who go to work every day to feed their
families and abhor the illegal drug trade, because of the obvious
misery it causes.

Having said that, we should also praise those politicians, police,
government workers and other community leaders who are pushing for
real change in the way we deal with violent criminals.

We should give credit where it is due -- for example in the way some
police forces now are hitting the drug traffickers where it really
hurts, namely in the pocketbook.

Last week, we learned that two houses in Abbotsford that had been used
as marijuana grow-ops had been seized and sold off under the
province's Civil Forfeiture Act, which took effect last year. The net
proceeds of $230,000 were turned over to the government.

"We recognized early on that this new law would be a great tool for
police to hit back at organized crime," noted Abbotsford police chief
Ian MacKenzie.

So far, some $2 million in assets have been seized in this manner --
including houses, cars and boats -- with some of the cash being used
to compensate crime victims.

It's not that much money, at least compared to the size of the B.C.
drug trade, but it's a start.

And the fact is there is no single measure that will turn around a bad
gang situation, which has been allowed to get steadily worse over the
years.

But in the fight against violent crime, every little initiative helps
- -- especially by those, like Brown, who have suffered greatly because
of it.