QUEBEC TARGETS STREET GANGS

Kids Being Recruited into Crime, Mayor Says

Montreal police will receive $6 million from the provincial government
to help fight street gangs.

The funding - part of a package that will also see community groups
receive $1.2 million for youth programs - was announced at a news
conference yesterday by Premier Jean Charest, along with Public
Security Minister Jacques Dupuis, Montreal Mayor Gerald Tremblay and
Montreal police chief Yvan Delorme.

"Street gangs are not a phenomenon unique to Montreal," Charest said,
acknowledging many North American cities have them. "But they are a
problem in Montreal."

The mayor said the street gang problem in the city is evolving. The
most disturbing trend, he said, is that it is becoming more common to
hear of children age 10 and 12 being recruited into gangs.

Besides the police and government, Tremblay said, parents have an
important role to play in combatting the influence of gangs. When
young children come home from school suddenly equipped with a
cellphone, for example, parents have to ask questions, he said.

Dupuis said the $6 million will be used to increase personnel and add
support to criminal investigations.

Street gangs are also a growing problem in cities like Laval and
Longueuil, Dupuis said, but the priority is the province's biggest
city. He estimated 75 per cent of gang activity is concentrated in
Montreal.

"But it is starting to be exported outside Montreal, particularly in
urban zones and even in the (more remote) regions," Dupuis said.

"We have to fully understand it before we can take action, and that is
what we are currently doing."

Eight of the 30 homicides reported on Montreal Island this year are
believed to be linked to street gangs.

Part of the money from Quebec will help finance a program set up
recently by Montreal police to increase patrols in areas considered
hotbeds of street gang activity, Delorme said.