DO WE NEED DEATH BEFORE ACTION HERE?

National crime statistics suggest the odds of being a car-theft victim
in Abbotsford are greater than most other crime-infected Canadian cities.

We can sleep at night, albeit anxiously at times and with ear tuned to
the driveway, with the knowledge and confidence that Abbotsford Police
have an aggressive plan to crackdown on these slimy
perpetrators.

Our officers, while still short in numbers, are much smarter than the
small-time crooks who have no guilt issues about violating innocent
lives.

While we are confident police will eventually get a handle on
disappearing wheels and the loose nuts behind them, we are seriously
worried about much more violent events like Tuesday's, where
gun-toting, gang-bangers exchanged shots in heavy afternoon traffic
without worrying where their bullets landed.

Even more bothersome is the fact these gangsters are allegedly known
to police - and the fact they wear body armour knowing they are
targets-in-waiting.

It's one thing to bail out an Olympic Village for a party, or a big
business on the brink of collapse, but where are the funds or
emergency meetings to stop gang warfare in the streets of Abbotsford?
Do we have to wait for an innocent bystander to die before panic
alarms are sounded?

Didn't the Murder Capital status trigger some sense of urgency in
Victoria or Ottawa? Where are the politicians who promised during
their election campaigns to crack down on violent crime? Where is the
demand to change a legal system that no longer seems to serve as a
justice system or deterrent?

Do we just have to accept gangs and their fatal attraction to guns and
drive-bys as the new reality?

What's it going to take for people in Abbotsford and Mission to say
enough is enough and demand change instead of just hope for it?

The fact we have become gangland, where drugs, thugs and slugs are no
longer surprising news stories or neighbours, is a sad statement on
how outdated our make-nice legal system is in this country.

It's unfortunate that while innocent people duck bullets, those paid
to draft laws to protect the law-abiding society duck their
responsibilities, too.