ALBERTA TO FORM SPECIAL GANG UNIT

Alberta plans on doubling the $2.4 million it spends each year to combat
organized crime and street gangs.

The new money will be used to create a special province-wide police unit
designed to counter the growing threat posed by sophisticated groups that
increasingly resemble multinational criminal organizations, sources say.

It is thought the initiative is the first of its kind in Canada.

Planning was accelerated following a meeting last month with Solicitor
General Heather Forsyth and police officials.

Forsyth and police representatives will reveal further details, including a
dollar figure, this morning at a Calgary news conference. The force will
apparently complement organized crime and gang units.

"Not only is the volume of organized crime on the rise, but the complexity
and sophistication of the crimes are also increasing," Forsyth said Wednesday.

Crime has fallen in Alberta in recent years, but organized crime, including
bloody street shootings and gun battles between rival gangs settling scores
and marking territory, has grown noticeably.

Alberta police forces believe the gangs involved in public violence are
mostly extensions of larger crime groups.

They are worried the province's approximately 25 organized crime groups are
expanding beyond drug trafficking to running most methamphetamine labs and
marijuana grow operations.

The gangs are also adding money laundering, tax evasion, murder for hire,
extortion, jewelry, guns and immigrant smuggling, car, credit card and
identity theft, illegal gambling, telephone and Internet fraud, and even
stock market manipulation to their portfolios.

Gang activity has been escalating in Calgary, with at least three
gang-related drive-by shootings since December.

The victim of the Southcentre mall shooting survived, but two young men,
Vinh Le, 29, and Bill Ly, 19, were killed in separate gun attacks on Dec.
29 and Dec. 30, 2002.

Calgary police Chief Jack Beaton says members of Calgary's street gangs are
teens to men in their late 20s who often work their way up the organized
crime ladder.

As a result, Calgary police have created a 25-member task force to tackle
street-gang activity, headed by 22-year police veteran Staff Sgt. Ken
Marchant and including criminal analysts and Calgary Police

Service members from specialty units such as the gang, homicide and drug
units, as well as members of the Serious Habitual Offender Program.

Organized crime is also spreading beyond Edmonton and Calgary to Red Deer,
Fort McMurray, Grande Prairie, Lethbridge, Medicine Hat and smaller
communities, they say.

Many break-ins, bank robberies and car thefts are committed by drug users
desperate to feed their habits.

There is also a social impact with overdose deaths, drug-addicted babies
and broken families, as well as increased insurance and security costs for
businesses.

The province spends $2.4 million annually to fund the Criminal Intelligence
Service of Alberta.

CISA, which was established in 1999, collects, analyses and distributes
criminal intelligence to Alberta police forces and conducts threat
assessment of organized crime.

It is credited with significantly improving information sharing between
police agencies and supporting numerous major joint operations and
investigations by other forces.

The new initiative was developed with input from Beaton, Edmonton police
Chief Bob Wasylyshen, RCMP Assistant Commissioner Bill Sweeney, and Camrose
Chief Marshall Chalmers, who is also president of the Alberta Association
of Chiefs of Police.