DON'T LET BIKER GANGS WIN

The blatant threat to the life of a Crown prosecutor who successfully
brought drug charges against two Hell's Angels is "absolutely horrifying
and shameful," says Premier Ujjal Dosanjh. He's right.

This kind of thuggery aimed at people not involved in gangs is not unknown
in B.C., but it is a recent phenomenon and quite rare.

In Quebec, where gang violence is both worse and longstanding, attempts to
deal with it seem hamstrung by a federal-provincial spat. The Quebec
government is pressing Ottawa to pass a law outlawing membership in biker
gangs; Ottawa is rightly hesitant because it would infringe on freedom of
association and risk becoming the first step toward a police state.
Unfortunately, Quebec seems to be using that hesitancy as an excuse to do
little in the way of effective police work and prosecution.

Federal Justice Minister Anne McLellan has, however, promised that
legislation will be put forward soon to make it easier to protect police,
prosecutors and jury members involved in cases against gang members.
Assuming that it's effective and narrowly targetted at criminals, that's to
be welcomed.

But the Quebec experience demonstrates that the job of dealing with gangs
lies largely with local police and provincial officials. We suspect that
the main effect of this vile attempt to bully a man doing his job will be
to coalesce public support for very strong measures to be taken.

It's bad enough when thugs flout the law and go after their own. It's even
worse when they try to undermine the law through threats and intimidation
The only acceptable response is more effort to bring them to justice, not
the backing off they hoped for.