TIME FOR A GANG FIGHT

Detractors Of Proposed Anti-Crime Laws Should Come UP With A Better Solution

There's a gang fight raging on Parliament Hill.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper picked Vancouver to announce his
government's tough anti-crime agenda.

A spate of gang-related killings has brought the issue into
blood-curdling focus for citizens in that city.

Calgarians, who've enjoyed a bit of a lapse in the murder and mayhem
wrought by our local gang population lately, also have a big stake in
tougher new laws.

While Harper suggested the opposition would attack the new anti-gang
measures, the Liberals, NDP and even Bloc Quebecois signalled their
support. They even went so far as to accuse the Tories of not doing
enough to keep the streets safe.

We'll have to wait until the laws go before Parliament to see if all
this tough talk matches with their actions.

New legislation announced by Harper would make murders linked to
organized crime automatically first degree -- subject to a mandatory
25 years in the slammer without parole.

Drive-by and other reckless shootings would draw a mandatory
four-year minimum sentence.

Calgary police would also like to see an end to criminals being given
additional credit for time already served. That's a move backed,
astonishingly, by the Bloc Quebecois, who also want an end to the
common practice of granting day parole to prisoners who've served
one-sixth of their sentences. Mon dieu!

The Liberals appear no less eager to get tough, urging better wiretap
laws and streamlining the justice process to speed trials to court.
Even the NDP are calling for more police and programs to divert youth
away from gangs.

Sadly the team effort on the crime-fighting front likely won't last
long. On Friday, the Tories announced tough new penalties for drug
dealers and grow-ops, the businesses that fuel gang activity.

The opposition parties have already warned they don't support these
laws, because the U.S. experience has shown they don't work.

Other critics denounce the government strategy for ignoring the root
causes of the gang wars -- alienated youth and massive demand for
illegal drugs.

As the Sun's in-depth three-day series on gangs illustrates, this
complex problem has evolved over a number of years. The new laws,
tough as they might be, aren't an instant solution.

Calgary police admit their main challenge is getting those with
knowledge of gang activities to talk. In fact, no one has been
arrested in connection with the eight gang-related slayings last year
and only one person has been convicted of a gang killing since 2001.

Slowing or reversing this murderous trend is going to require a
multi-faceted approach involving police, social agencies and federal
and provincial authorities.

Proposed anti-drug legislation would allow for drug courts that
encourage an accused to deal with the addiction that motivates their
criminal behaviour.

That's important, but putting these trigger-happy thugs away where
they can't harm anyone is more urgent.

"What we want to do is get some of these people off the street," says
federal Justice Minister Rob Nicholson.

"We want to break up this activity."

Those who say these get-tough laws are futile should come up with
some better solutions.

Alberta Justice Minister Alison Redford says she doesn't want "to
hear people say we shouldn't try because it might not work.

"I'd rather have the legislation on the books than not have it on the
books," she told reporters.

"We cannot let this culture develop where people think there are no
consequences for making decisions that are in violation of the rules
of society."

That's a sentiment with which few law-abiding citizens would disagree.