AUGER URGES GANG LAW

Wouldn't Have Been Shot If Anti-Gang Law Was In Force, Crime Reporter Says

Michel Auger, the Journal de Montreal crime reporter who was shot six times
last year on his way to work, said yesterday that he would not have been
attacked if the new anti-gang law was in force.

"Canada is the only country in the world where criminals can walk around in
uniforms," Auger said, referring to members of biker gangs who wear their
Hells Angels and other gang insignia in public.

"Mr. (Prime Minister Jean) Chretien shares the same vision of the country
with some criminals," he added, quoting Chretien's evaluation of Canada as
"the best country in the world."

Bill C-24, the proposed anti-gang law, would make it a crime to display
gang colours and would make membership in a gang a criminal offence.

Auger was a speaker at the annual convention of the National Association of
Professional Police, whose members include officers from the Royal Canadian
Mounted Police, provincial forces and city police from Toronto, Vancouver,
Halifax and the Niagara region.

"I think if the law introduced at the beginning of summer was in force,
organized crime would not have attacked a journalist," Auger said.

"In Quebec, we have known for years gangs of criminals who display tattoos
and badges proving they have committed crimes, that they have committed
murders for those organizations," he added. "Even if they display them in
public, the police and the Crown cannot do anything."

Auger said police need the tougher anti-gang law, that would broaden police
powers and allow the seizure of gang members' property, because even though
there were 150 arrests of gang members during Operation Printemps in March,
the places of those arrested have already been filled by new gang members
in the drug-distribution network.

"I know, through my experience and through my contacts, that no drug user
in Quebec is going without drugs," he said.