BIKERS TARGET OF $1-MILLION POLICE PLAN

Except for the rumble of their motorcycles, Hells Angels have taken a low
profile since moving into Alberta a year ago. In a three-part series, the
Herald looks at the impact the biker gang has had on the province and the
success police have had in reining them in.

Alberta's top cops are poised to ask the province for more than $1 million
dollars to wage a street-level battle against suspected criminal activities,
including the Hells Angels.

The Criminal Intelligence Service of Alberta has sent a report to Justice
Minister Jon Havelock detailing its plans.

``This three-year business plan creates a partnership where the province
becomes much more prominent in terms of its partnership with CISA in
combatting organized crime,'' said Lethbridge police Chief John LaFlamme.

The plan -- drafted by a three-person committee including representatives of
CISA, the Alberta Association of Police Chiefs and the Alberta Justice
Department -- comes on the anniversary of the Red Deer patchover, when 23
Alberta bikers received Hells Angels colors.

``We need the province to become much more of a partner . . . in terms of
providing financial resources for us to undertake operations -- specific
street operations,'' LaFlamme said.

``We are in fact going to be requesting in excess of a million dollars.''

This week, Hells Angels from all over Canada and the U.S. West Coast will
congregate in Nanaimo, B.C., for their annual ``Canada run.''

Havelock said the province is committed to the battle against the Angels --
whose Alberta membership has doubled to 60 over the past year -- but is not
prepared to write a blank cheque to police. Last July, the justice
department gave CISA $400,000 to develop a battle plan against organized crime.

That followed an attack on Havelock in the legislature for what the
Opposition called ``a total lack of action'' for allowing the Hells Angels
to set up Alberta chapters.

Havelock said the government ``will not throw money at something unless
there will be some results achieved.''

While no promises have been made, CISA executives said they hope for a cash
injection. Although the amount the province spends on policing is
unavailable, Calgary's annual police budget totals $123 million.

Havelock is on holiday and has not reviewed the report. ``(The justice
minister) will look forward to it with interest,'' Justice Department
spokesman Peter Tadman said.

LaFlamme, a CISA executive member, would not outline details within the
report but said the study contains a strategy to deal with bikers. Police
believe criminal activity has flourished across the province under the Hells
Angels.

The chair of CISA, Calgary Police Chief Christine Silverberg, emphasized
that battling bikers is only one component of the report. ``It is not just
as a result of the outlaw bike gangs, but certainly the evidence of the
Hells Angels in Alberta is a visible demonstration of that entity becoming
entrenched in the province,'' Silverberg said.

While the bikers are said to control the drug trade, prostitution and
stripper industries, Calgary has yet to see a crackdown to the level in
Edmonton, where police arrested a man they believe is that city's Hells
Angels leader on charges of extortion.

``They (Calgary's Hells Angels) are still in the initiation stage,'' an
intelligence investigator said. ``They're being taught by the Hells Angels
from B.C., who are mothering them and still telling them how to run things
and how to do stuff in the future. So the impact isn't here yet.''

But that's not the case across the province. ``They're going into the
smaller centres and they are more evident there,'' he said.

Biker investigator Det. Ron Robertson said the Edmonton Police Service has
put at least two people into witness-protection programs after the arrest of
several bikers. ``We have had people come forward and say they have had
enough,'' Robertson said of the intimidation and extortion allegations.

Last month, 90 charges were laid against several members of the former
Rebels Motorcycle Club.

Edmonton police from the proceeds-of-crime section laid the charges against
five men and two women, and seized nearly $750,000 in cash, property,
firearms, motorcycles, artwork, electronic equipment and jewelry.

RCMP Sgt. Grant Armstrong of the proceeds-of-crime unit in Calgary said that
going after bank accounts is an effective way of battling organized crime.
The unit here has never charged or seized the assets of a known Hells Angel
or member of any other motorcycle gang.

``It has been proven time and time again that if we can eliminate or seize
assets that have been gathered by any type of organized crime, then that's
where it hurts them,'' Armstrong said.

``If you can't finance your operation, you are going nowhere. A key element
of any investigation now is getting proceeds of crime involved.''

The Herald tried to obtain comments from the bikers' club through their
lawyer, Jack Kelly, but he did not return phone calls.

Kelly has said that the bikers have the same rights as other citizens, as
enshrined in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Kelly is representing the
Angels in a Charter challenge -- involving the fairness of prosecution --
stemming from a traffic-stop case to be heard in October.

``The motorcycle-club members argue that these rights apply to everyone, and
nobody should be singled out. The motorcycle-club members are being singled
out,'' Kelly said.

Checked-by: Melodi Cornett