YOU THINK E-TOWN IS VIOLENT?

There was another fatal shooting Saturday night and again on Monday.

And as you read this, there may be a couple more in progress.

That is the reality of life - and death - in Metro Vancouver today,
and probably tomorrow.

Since the beginning of 2009, there have been, at last count, 40
shootings in the Lower Mainland - 20 of them fatal.

Vancouver residents are understandably uneasy, not to mention angry.

And no, these shootings are not taking place in the Downtown East
Side, Vancouver's shame and the place which houses the homeless, the
addicts, the drunks, the mentally ill, the hopeless.

There have been some shootings in Abbotsford and Langley, small towns
close to Vancouver, a fact which briefly allowed Vancouverites to
mutter thank-God-it's-not-here.

But it was and is here, in the suburbs, on quiet streets, in
restaurants, at gas stations right in the city.

One of the more astounding killings took place in Surrey, just a hop,
skip and one bridge from Vancouver proper.

A young woman was shot dead in her car on Feb. 16 (she was one of six
killed in a 10-day period) while her four-year-old son sat in his car
seat in the back.

It is alleged that the woman's husband is connected to the drug trade.

And that of course, is the cause of the crime wave that has hit Metro
Vancouver. The drug trade. There's a turf war among rival gangs in
this lucrative business and no amount of self-congratulatory rhetoric
from the various levels of government has resulted in an effective
curbing of the violence.

The feds tout their proposed legislation to limit the notorious
"two-for-one" credit given to convicted criminals for time spent in
pre-trial custody.

It's a good piece of legislation because it will prevent gang members
and their lawyers from delaying trial in order to build up time already served.

It is however, but a step in the right direction.

The provincial Liberals facing an upcoming election are all over the
issue, talking about tough laws and police crackdowns. Cynical
Vancouverites grumble that tough talk is peachy ... as long as the
gang members are caught in the first place.

And yes, the beleaguered police have made some noise. Last Friday,
they charged Dennis Karbovanec with three counts of murder in a
gangland slaying in October 2007 during which two innocent bystanders
were killed. And yesterday, Jamie Bacon, one of the leaders of the
noted Red Scorpion gang appeared in court on the same charges.

Note that his brother Jarrod, 26, will soon go to court on 24 gun charges.

And that's another sticking point for jittery Vancouverites. What,
they ask, are known gang members doing with guns? Where are they
getting them (we have an answer - many of those guns are coming in
from the U.S.) and why aren't weapons removed from anyone who looks suspicious?

Then there's the whole technology conundrum. How do police cope when
gang members are savvy enough to use cells and encrypt their
messages. No answer to that one.

Obviously, there is no one solution to Vancouver's horrific wave of violence.

But, unless there is a co-ordinated attack on crime based on
co-operation between every level of government, the mayhem will
continue. That attack has to be low on rhetoric and high on action.

Meanwhile, the headline in Britain's Sunday Independent newspaper on
April 5 read: "From heaven to hell: 18 die as drugs war rages on
streets of Vancouver."

The story went on to describe Vancouver as a city of "blood-spattered
streets littered with shell casings and corpses."

The description is a trifle dramatic, a little overblown perhaps, but
according to many unnerved Vancouverites, not that inaccurate a
description of the direction in which the city is headed.