GANG WARS NOT OVER

Congratulations are due to the many police officers who investigated
the various gangland shootings of recent years, and have now arrested
four men in connection with the killing of six people in a Surrey
high-rise in 2007. Two were innocent victims who were in the wrong
place at the wrong time.

Among those arrested is Jamie Bacon, one of the Bacon brothers, the
infamous Abbotsford trio. They and other gangsters have shown a
callous disregard for anyone but themselves.

One of their close associates, Kevin LeClair, who spent part of his
teen years in Cloverdale, was murdered in broad daylight outside the
Thunderbird Village IGA on Feb. 6.

With the arrests, some people feel that the gang violence will
subside drastically. Do not become complacent.

Langley RCMP Supt. Janice Armstrong told Langley City council on
Monday that there are many more gangsters at large, and their battle
for a share of the lucrative drug business will continue.

History tells us that she is right. There have been several other
gang wars in the Lower Mainland, with the most renowned in recent
years involving several rival gangs in Vancouver in the 1990s. They
became increasingly brazen, and while the violence slowed down after
a number of the leaders were killed, it never ended.

The latest gang war is simply another group of people doing the same thing.

People need to be wary of these people. They are not up to any good.

While police are well aware of many of them, there are others that
have not come to police attention. They may be lower-level
lieutenants in one gang or the other, but they will be on the move
upwards as their bosses are shot or arrested.

As long as there is a market for drugs, there will be those willing
to sell it for big profits. Some young men in their 20s are attracted
to a lifestyle of easy money and a fast life, and that attraction
won't fade, no matter how many people are killed or arrested.

They know the risks, and they think of themselves as immune.

B.C. will always be a drug hot spot, given our geographical position
in North America, our major port and a lackadaisical attitude toward
drug use that many people hold.

The gang wars may be temporarily slowed, but they aren't over.