POLICE TO LAUNCH UNIFIED ATTACK ON GANGS, GUNS

Strengthened By New Hirings, Separate Squads To Be 'Harmonized'

Ottawa police are promising a renewed crackdown on street gangs and
illegal firearms with the formation of a "guns and gangs" unit that
will begin patrolling city streets in September.

The 11-member unit, which is being described as a "harmonization" of
the existing gang unit and firearms task force, is expected to be
launched sometime between Sept. 15 and 18.

"The mandate will be investigating and enforcing the Criminal Code as
far as weapons and offences involving criminal activity, with a
concentration of looking at gang-related activities in Ottawa," said
unit commander Staff Sgt. Mike Callaghan yesterday.

According to police, Ottawa currently has six hard-core street gangs
made up of more organized, mature members whose criminal activities
centre around cocaine trafficking. There are as many as nine other
informal gangs also operating in the city.

"Gangs use weapons, they are involved in the sale of drugs," said
Ottawa police Sgt. John Medeiros, who heads up the current gang unit
and will be one of two sergeants in the new unit.

Police are currently in the process of recruiting the nine officers
who are expected to make up the unit. Funding for the officers is
coming as a result of 95 new Ottawa police hirings made under a
provincial program.

The formation of the new unit is the latest offensive in Ottawa
police's ongoing war on street gangs.

In March, police announced the results of a six-month operation that
resulted in 53 arrests and 261 criminal charges.

In May 2005, Ottawa police Chief Vince Bevan used the Boys and Girls
Club as a backdrop to announce that police had arrested 74 people and
laid 217 gang-related charges over a six-month period.

Police said they launched that campaign after three high-profile
incidents from December 2004 involving random assaults and robberies
that outraged the public. That operation followed a threat assessment
of the city's street gangs following a large scale investigation into
the Ledbury-Banff Crips after the slaying of 23-year-old Bashir Sahal
in August 2003.

However, charges laid against many of the alleged gang-members from
the investigation into Mr. Sahal's homicide were withdrawn by Crown.

While the current street gang unit focuses largely on intelligence
gathering, the new unit will be more enforcement driven, police said.

"It will change the focus a little bit. They will be more proactive
on the enforcement side," said Staff Sgt. Callaghan. "The enforcement
is intelligence driven so one has to be there before the other can occur."

The new unit will also target people who aren't in gangs but are in
possession of illegal guns. Between Jan. 18 and July 7, the firearms
task force has seized 51 guns and arrested 24 people.

Police said the new unit will be working with other criminal
investigation sections as well as patrol and neighbourhood officers
to solve street level crime.

"You'll be crossing over with drugs, you'll be crossing over with
major crime, you'll be crossing over with sexual assault and child
abuse, you'll be crossing over with spousal abuse," said Staff Sgt. Callaghan.

"The tentacles will be far-reaching to ensure that all the offences
are investigated appropriately."

Sgt. Medeiros said he expects the new unit will put a special
emphasis on investigating suspected gang members for offences like
breaches of conditions, traffic and liquor violations and trespassing.

"If you pay attention to the small details, quite often it leads to
the bigger crimes," he said.

Sgt. Medeiros said gang members are a diverse group.

"Younger individuals in gangs tend to be more interested in
impressing their peers, the notoriety," he said, which leads to
violent crimes such as swarmings. Older members are often involved in
more lucrative and less visible ventures, such as drug dealing or prostitution.

The common thread between them is the possession and use of weapons,
particularly firearms, police said.

"A lot of criminal activity involves some type of weapon, whether it
be a knife, whether it be a firearm, whether it be a baseball bat,"
said Staff Sgt. Callaghan.