ACTION IS NEEDED ON GANG MENACE

If Premier Gordon Campbell is serious about tackling gang violence,
the province should hire more police officers and prosecutors devoted
solely to the problem.

Instead he plans to "redeploy" police and prosecutors from other
areas of enforcement, where they are presumably needed.

If more money is required, it will be found in contingency funds,
Campbell said, indicating there will be no funding increase in next
Tuesday's budget to deal with the gang threat.

This suggests the Liberals have failed to appreciate the the menace
posed by what is going on in the Lower Mainland and, to a lesser
degree, in the rest of British Columbia.

Gang violence is not a temporary problem. Throughout the province,
including here on the Island, gang activity has been on the rise for
several years.

And while B.C.'s Integrated Gang Task Force has had some success, the
rise in gang-related shootings in the Vancouver area shows more
action is needed on an ongoing basis.

Why, then, shuffle officers from outside jurisdictions or other
assignments or other tasks? Why should other communities have to deal
with less public safety to accommodate the Lower Mainland's scourge
of organized crime?

The problem calls for a larger, permanent task force, staffed by
officers trained specifically in the field of gang activity. If the
province intends to pull officers from other areas to staff it, those
officers should be replaced.

The province's share of the security costs for the 2010 Olympics will
likely be several hundred million dollars. The safety of B.C.
residents is just as important as that of international athletes here
for a two-week period.

Campbell made the redeployment announcement in a remark to reporters
at the legislature on Tuesday. Further details would be coming, he promised.

There is still time for the government to acknowledge the severity of
the gang problem in B.C. and allocate sufficient resources to tackle
it effectively. Those resources must include police staffing that
doesn't take away officers from other communities.

Enforcement is only part of the solution. Tougher gun laws,
legalization of drugs to remove the gang's source of profits,
regionalized policing, bail reform and other measures are all needed.

But the investigation into Quebec and Ontario drug gangs that
resulted in raids by some 700 police officers yesterday shows the
kind of commitment that B.C. needs. There is no guarantee convictions
will follow, but the arrests and seizures of drugs, guns and cash
will make a difference.

There is no easy, quick solution. But simply redeploying officers
sends a message to the gangs -- and the public -- that the province
is not sufficiently committed to making the streets safer.