STREET GANGS GET QUICK ON TRIGGER

More Gun Incidents. Police Say They Need Help From Public to Fight
Local Crime

Street gangs operating in the city's western districts are becoming
more violent and are using handguns more often to commit crimes,
Montreal police said yesterday.

The number of homicides linked to street gangs has jumped to seven in
2007 from none in 2005. Attempted murders have risen to nine this year
from just one in 2006.

As well, the number of crimes known to have been committed by street
gang members using handguns have risen to 51 this year from 33 in 2005.

Of the seven gang-related homicides this year, charges have been laid
in two cases, said police Commander Michele St-Onge, who is overseeing
the battle against street gangs in western Montreal.

Police can't combat the street gang problem on their own, St-Onge
said. She made a public appeal for people to come forward with
information about gangs operating in their neighbourhood.

"Witnesses and victims (of crimes) need to talk," she said yesterday
during a media briefing at the police department's western region's
operational centre in St. Laurent. "We need information."

Police are increasingly talking to elementary schoolchildren about
street gang activity, because investigators are seeing children as
young as 10 being recruited to sell drugs, St-Onge said.

"They are selling drugs or letting it be known that a certain gang
operates in that area," St-Onge said.

Anyone who wants to report street-gang activity can call Info-Crime at
514-393-1133. All calls are confidential.