MAKING PEACE WITH GANGS

Throwing Them In Jail Isn't The Only Answer, Chief Says

Bob Wasylyshen officially became Edmonton's police chief last October and
immediately vowed to crack down on gangs.

Citizens were telling him they were afraid to live in his city and were
sure that, sooner or later, an innocent person would die in the crossfire
between rival drug gangs.

Wasylyshen's predecessor, John Lindsay, had announced the previous January
that he had disbanded a special unit designed to fight gangs, at first
saying there wasn't enough money and then insisting Edmonton really didn't
have a serious gang problem.

The new chief says flat out that Edmonton can no longer ignore the fact
that gangs are part of the city's landscape and he has dedicated roughly
two dozen people to the task of eliminating gang activity.

Vicki Hall of The Journal and Rob Brown of Global News recently sat down
with the chief to talk about the progress in the war against gangs. Here
are some excerpts from that interview:

- - Question: Overall, are we better off today than we were a year ago in
terms of gangs?

Chief: Absolutely. No question in my mind. I strongly believe we have a
stronger handle on the whole gang situation in Edmonton than we've ever
had. Had we not made the efforts that we have in the past year or so, I
strongly believe our situation would be much worse than it is today.

At the same time, I regret that ... we've had those outbursts of violence.
And we'll continue to try in the future to keep those to an absolute bare
minimum, if not to a zero level.

Q: How does the gang problem in our city compare with that in other cities
of this size?

Chief: I think our gang problems are not nearly as bad as the ones some of
our sister cities have. The trick is to keep it that way.

Q: Can you name any of those cities?

Chief: Well, certainly Winnipeg is a Canadian city that has had its share
of gang problems and Vancouver is another one that has had to learn a lot
about this particular problem. We have been able to learn some things from
Winnipeg and Vancouver. I can remember Vancouver police advising us that
eventually you're going to have to deal with the gang situation and create
a gang unit and dedicate resources to control this problem. And that's
exactly what happened.

Q: What kind of illegal activities are gangs involved in?

Chief: Most gangs find their support from drug activities and drug sales.
That would be a common denominator. But it can involve other things like
prostitution. It can involve thefts. Quite often vehicle thefts, break and
enters, robberies, anything that will turn a profit and support the group.
The problem is that some of those offences, robberies and things like that,
can become very violent. That's when the public is really put in a
dangerous situation.

Q: After the shooting of Adnan Pervez (gunned down in Mill Woods in
December), you offered to broker a truce between the Browns and the Blacks.
You also talked about finding solutions to solve gang violence once and for
all. What's happened with that?

Chief: We need to come up with some innovative ideas on how we can resolve
gang activity and gang conflict. It's going to require some thinking
outside the box. So that's why some people might say, `is it really up to
the police to try and secure a truce between two groups?' I think it is.
Whatever we can do to make peace is within our mandate, as far as I'm
concerned. To me, that's a little different thinking than the classic,
`let's lock them up and put them in jail.' That's one option. But that's
not the only option, because I believe there's lots of other ways in
dealing with this. I think we're going to find some successes that perhaps
haven't been tried before in Edmonton.

Q: Did you get any response to your offer?

Chief: Without being specific for obvious reasons, we have had some very
exciting success. I think one of the reasons you're seeing quiet on the
whole gang front is because of some of those innovative efforts we have
worked on. I think I can safely say they have worked so far and I intend to
continue to pursue that.

Q: Much of the public attention related to gangs has been in Mill Woods.
Can you characterize what is happening in Mill Woods compared with the rest
of the city?

Chief: I don't really think Mill Woods is unique from the rest of the city.
Unfortunately, the spot that was chosen for violence on a number of
occasions happened to be Mill Woods. But that does not in any way suggest
that major gang activity only happens in Mill Woods. Gangs are very mobile.
They're not only in the city, but outside the city as well.

Q: What is your message to Edmontonians who are frightened about the situation?

Chief: The gang situation, I believe, is under control. We haven't gotten
rid of it, and I don't think we're going to in the next short while. It's a
complex, huge challenge for us in policing. I think we're doing a good job.
We've dedicated appropriate resources to deal with this issue. We
acknowledge this is an issue. We are determined and committed to continue
to do our best to disrupt and eradicate gang activity from this city. Now,
we won't be totally successful, but I believe we'll have a degree of
success that will be consistent with the expectations of the citizens of
this city. But overall, Edmonton is still a very safe city in the grand
scheme of things.

Q: What message do you have to the young people who are maybe just joining
gangs now or are already involved?

Chief: I wish we had a better ability to reach out to young people and give
them alternatives to gang activity. They are attracted by certain things
that gang lifestyle has to offer, whether that be money, a sense of
belonging, a comradeship or whatever. I would say to young people you can
find all of those things and more by staying outside of the gang circles
and finding those needs in a healthy way. The problem with gang activity is
that it's a slippery slope. It's deceptive. It looks great on the outside,
but it really isn't that way.