MAYORS TALK TACTICS TO TACKLE GANGS

Stopping the flow of money to gangs, shutting down grow-ops and
refusing large amounts of cash for purchases were among the anti-gang
tactics discussed at an in camera meeting of Lower Mainland mayors
Saturday.

"We wanted to talk about not only what will catch the bad guys today,
but what will happen in the future," Delta Mayor Lois Jackson, chair
of the Metro Vancouver Regional District, told The Progress Monday.

She said the focus of the Saturday meeting was prevention of gang
activity at every level, including schools by "diverting any of those
young kids who may be tempted to move off the good track."

Chilliwack Mayor Sharon Gaetz said the city will be talking to the
school district about hosting an anti-gang forum here to educate
parents and the public on how to identify gangs and to engage the
"power of the community" to thwart gang activity.

"We're hoping to put that (forum) together in the not too distant
future," she said. "We want to make sure parents have all the tools
they need."

The Saturday meeting was held in camera so police officials from every
jurisdiction in the region could "speak to confidential information"
about on-going investigations, Jackson said.

Recommendations made by the Metro Vancouver mayors - including
Chilliwack and Abbotsford - will be sent to the federal and provincial
governments and to the Federation of Canadian Municipalities. A
delegation of mayors may also take the recommendations to Ottawa to
personally present them to Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

Gaetz and Abbotsford Mayor George Peary will review the final
recommendations to ensure "they capture everything they've spoken
about," Jackson added.

"We do want to include Chilliwack and Abbotsford because of the nature
of the gang activity out there," she said.

Gaetz said the meeting of mayors was "very powerful" and "strengthened
our resolve" in fighting back against gangs.

"I think everybody walked out of there thinking this is something we
can do together," she said. "More than anything, it made us feel we're
on the right path."

Chilliwack is an active supporter of organizations like Bar Watch, and
the idea of advertising the city as a "gang-free" zone has been
discussed where businesses would not accept large cash purchases in
order to force gangs to take their business elsewhere.

The Chilliwack Chamber of Commerce had not made any concrete policy
resolution around such a "gang-free" proposal as of last week.

But B.C. Chamber president John Winter said yesterday "it's my sense,
given the current circumstances, it would probably be a welcome
resolution" at the chamber's AGM in May. The deadline for proposed
resolutions is this week.

Gaetz said marijuana grow-ops are the "economic engine" of gangs and
each municipality in the Lower Mainland has a different bylaw to deal
with them, but all are "rather cumbersome and lengthy and expensive."

"I'm hoping that we will be able to ensure the government hears our
concerns about that, and gives us better tools to deal with that kind
of criminal activity," she said.