GANG CRIME AT TOP OF POLICE CHIEF'S LIST

Public Forum To Address Recent Spate Of Shootings

Concerned Abbotsford residents packed a meeting last night to hear how
their police chief is dealing with a surge in crime.

"Suppressing gang crime is our No. 1 issue," Chief Bob Rich told the
standing-room-only crowd at the Matsqui Centennial Auditorium.

Crime has doubled in the past five years in Abbotsford, he said.

"There are way too many guns and they are coming across the [U.S.] border."

Rich listed four steps police have taken to combat crime:

- - Drug supply lines targeted.

- - Number of grow-ops reduced.

- - Gang members harassed.

- - Gang activity suppressed in streets, bars and restaurants.

To loud applause, Rich also said police are targeting the notorious Bacon
brothers, who are linked to the Red Scorpions. The three brothers have
recently been involved in shootings.

"We have been at their residences nightly -- 200 times since last fall,"
Rich said. "Today, we're putting a marked car on them."

Resident Regina Dalton said: "It's not the city I moved into 28 years ago.
The people have had enough.

"There seems to be no way to keep people [who commit crimes] away from the
public."

Tony Smith of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition blamed the war on drugs
for much of the crime.

"The war on drugs causes most of the problem," said the retired Vancouver
policeman.

Property crimes are committed by drug addicts 70 to 90 per cent of the
time, he said.

The forum was called as a response to residents' concerns over a spate of
recent shootings.

Three shootings occurred in less than a week.

On Jan. 20, a Mercedes belonging to a Bacon brother was shot at during
rush hour at a busy intersection. No one was seriously injured.

Two days later, a man was shot in the torso in the 28200-block Huntingdon
Road. Police described the situation as a marijuana grow ripoff gone bad.
The victim is expected to recover.

The next night, two men were injured, one with a gunshot wound and the
other with head injuries, in the 3600-block Newcastle Drive. Both are
expected to recover.