CITY POLICE, RCMP CRACK DOWN ON GANGS

Regina Police Service (RPS) and RCMP officials are making strides to
crack down on gang activity in the city and province -- even forming
a combined unit to tackle the issue.

The Combined Force Special Enforcement Unit is a provincially funded
project with three detachments -- one each in Saskatoon, Prince
Albert, and Regina. Funding was first provided for the unit in
November and the unit was officially formed in January.

"Chiefs of police in the province were concerned with criminal
activity -- specifically gang activity," said RPS Deputy Chief Troy
Hagen. "And (they) thought there would be better coordination and a
better sustained effort if there was a provincial unit or task force
that would be formed to combat those issues."

The unit currently consists of 10 members -- four in Regina -- who
work full-time on the issue of gang-related activity.

"The mandate is primarily (to) disrupt and dismantle organized crime
and investigate violent crime that's associated to a criminal
organization or basically a gang," said John Contafio, the RCMP
inspector who heads the unit.

"We're there to investigate organized crime. To crack down; well, I
would prefer to say we're actually targeting them. We're focusing our
skills towards investigating them with the tools that we have."

According to Contafio, there are an estimated 56 recognized criminal
organizations in the province and approximately 10 in Regina -- each
consisting of a minimum of three members, most of whom are involved
in the distribution of illicit drugs.

While that number may be alarming, Contafio said that, at least in
part, the number reflects a growing efficiency in police enforcement.

"The numbers are large. A lot of that is because, really, police
officers in the last five years really have done a good job of making
sure when they got that information they put it in the right place so
it could be analysed. As a result, you reveal that," he said.

The combined unit, through integrating local police with the RCMP,
streamlines the sharing of intelligence which allows police to more
closely and accurately follow the movement and happenings of street gangs.

The unit's success thus far is illustrated in a series of arrests
this fall involving the Crazy Dragons -- an Asian gang which had
recently moved into Regina from Alberta. The arrests were the result
of surveillance with wiretaps, informants, and some undercover work,
said Contafio.

"We were fortunate to get information on them at an earlier stage,
before they got entrenched, as I think they are in other places, and
we were able to do something about it. But I do know that since, I
have heard, that there are some already starting to come back," said Contafio.

According to Hagen, gang movement into the province is nothing new as
the organizations try to spread their influence and make more money.

Contafio said that his job is purely enforcement even though, in
larger terms, education is part of the solution.

For city police, education is immensely important and they have plans
to develop a proactive strategic plan which will help to better
understand the roots of the problem.

"We also want to, in our approach in Regina here, not only look at it
from an enforcement perspective, but also look at it from a
comprehensive perspective in terms of trying to understand the
underlying causes and factors that contribute to recruitment of gang
members," said Hagen.