CHARGE GANGS FOR THEIR DEEDS

Ottawa Police Need and Deserve Support in Fighting Gang Crime in Ottawa.
But That Doesn't Include the Power to Limit Freedom of Association.

Through the work of a new gang unit and the investigation into the murder
of Bashir Sahal last August, the police have uncovered a troubling picture
of a group called the Ledbury Banff Crips. One Crip, who police call Member
#1, is only 23 but has had 146 contacts with police, involving sexual
assaults, drugs and firearms, among other things. He has been convicted 11
times.

Police believe gang members commit more crimes than they are charged with.
One reason is that witnesses are sometimes too fearful to co-operate with
police. Chief Vince Bevan is calling on citizens to be vigilant and
courageous in reporting crime. He also wants more resources and
co-operation from the federal and provincial governments. All good ideas.

But there is another reason some of these guys are on the street. In
Canada, we don't put someone away for life for an assault or robbery, and
that's how it should be. So Chief Bevan is looking into whether police can
use the organized-crime provisions of the Criminal Code on the Ledbury
Banff Crips.

The code defines a "criminal organization" as one that exists to derive
benefit from crime, and people who participate in such organizations face
up to five years imprisonment -- or 14 years for actually committing a
crime in association with it. It even allows for life imprisonment for a
member who "knowingly instructs, directly or indirectly, any person to
commit an offence."

Now it's true that the right to freedom of association is not absolute.
Anti-terror laws rightly limit a person's right to support groups that are
officially designated as terrorist entities.

But terrorism and criminality are different things.

There are organizations that exist to oppose Canada's drug laws, for
example, and some of their members might advocate civil disobedience (such
as smoking a joint on a park bench). Does that mean membership in such
groups should be criminal?

Are teenagers who wear blue or red bandannas criminals? Which is to say,
identification of gang members isn't as simple as it might seem. Any kid
can call himself a Crip. Is a name, or even association with criminals,
sufficient cause to imprison someone?

Restrictions on freedom of association should only be used when nothing
else will work. That is not the case in Ottawa today. Of 69 sample Ledbury
Banff Crips incidents the police compiled since Jan. 1, 2003, charges were
laid in at least 38. This suggests that police are able to tie gang members
to crimes.

There is nothing wrong with the police monitoring and studying these gangs.
But in the absence of a great need to restrict freedom of association,
police should restrict themselves to charging individuals for the crimes
they actually commit.