DRUGS EQUATE TO GANG PRESENCE

All anyone has to do is listen to the news broadcasts, or read a
newspaper and they will see references to gang-related crime. Is this
issue confined to the "big cities" or are rural and smaller
communities affected too? That is the question I want to discuss.

When people hear the word "gang," several images come to mind. Most of
them fuelled by television/movie images of archetypical criminals. But
that is not always the reality. In many cases, criminal gangs are
loosely associated individuals who come together to form a common
purpose. That common purpose is to make money the quickest way
possible with the least risk and exposure to them.

Not every organized crime group has a clubhouse or a ritual means of
gaining entry. All it takes is three main people to facilitate
criminal offences that would result in a material benefit to them. The
most common criminal enterprise is drugs. The production, distribution
and sale of drugs is the lifeblood of many urban and rural based
gangs. They want a monopoly on the market, and they will use whatever
means they can to ensure it. Thefts, burglaries, intimidation,
threats, violence and even death if it makes good business sense. to
them.

Other activities that criminal groups or gangs engage in are:
distribution of counterfeit merchandise, which impacts the local,
provincial and national economies. If you are a legitimate business
owner selling a product, how can you compete on a level playing field
with a competition who plays by no rules?

Human trafficking is another gang heavy criminal enterprise. This
crime profits on human misery as it entails the recruitment,
transportation and harbouring of persons for the purpose of
exploitation. Most commonly, it means the unfortunate souls at the
bottom of the chain are used as forced slave labour or prostitutes,
but neither term adequately portrays what these people endure at the
hands of the traffickers.

Well, you might say, that doesn't happen in a small area like ours.
No? Know anyone who sells, or uses drugs, even in a social setting?
These things are not 'over the counter' prescriptions. Someone with a
connection to organized crime produced, and sold them to whomever
offered them to you. Did you think that Health Canada inspected the
product first? What exactly do you know about where the stuff came
from? What do you know about the person who offered the drugs?

Do you think you pay high enough insurance rates? As long as organized
crime groups can steal cars and sell them at a lower price than a bona
fide dealer, get used to it. Think about this... what if nobody bought
the cheaper car, or the drugs, or had a desire to lower labour costs
by using illegal workers.

But that is not realistic as 'vice' has been part of human nature
since the Dead Sea was on the 'sick list.' But the majority of
Canadians are decent, law abiding folks, and for them, the best
defence against organized crime is to not turn a blind eye. Ask
yourself some questions, like:

How does this person seem to have more money than their salary would
allow?

Does this person have a real job?

Why all the cash?

How do they afford all their new toys?

Sometimes, there is a perfectly good and reasonable explanation.
Perhaps they work hard at excellent paying legitimate jobs. But there
can be other factors to consider such as: what is their education level?

Education (or rather the lack of it) and crime seem to go hand in hand
when one considers that the majority of federal inmates enter the
prison system without basic literacy skills.

How long have they worked at that job?

So perhaps you are asking yourselves - do we see this locally? The
honest answer is, to some extent, yes. Like all communities across
Canada, we have our issues with drugs and its related crime, like
burglaries, thefts, stolen cars and assaults. The Columbia Valley RCMP
is working diligently to gather information and evidence to identify,
charge and prosecute the people who produce and provide drugs in our
area. So what can the average citizen do?

Trust your instincts and remember that we can only be effective
together. Neither you nor the police can resolve this problem acting
or working alone. Breaking silence exposes the criminals. Keeping
silent is what they are counting on.

For more information, please check out the following site: RCMP's Drug
and Organized Crime Awareness.