DRUG, GANG-RELATED HOMICIDES UP 20% IN 2009

But Metro's Toll For All Killings Was About The Same As 2008 And Gang
Slayings Levelled Off In The Second Half Of The Year

Despite the high-profile gun play that rattled nerves and dominated
headlines in 2009, the RCMP has said Metro Vancouver's homicide toll was
not higher this year than in 2008.

However, there was a 20-percent increase in drug-and gangrelated killings
in 2009, Cpl. Dale Carr told reporters in yearend interviews.

And those types of homicides are traditionally harder to solve, said
Darryl Plecas, a criminology professor at the University College of the
Fraser Valley.

"In most homicides, the perpetrator is right there or it is somebody who
clearly had a contact with the victim," Plecas said in an interview
Monday.

Typically that can include an angry spouse or the last person seen
drinking with a victim found dead outside a bar.

Two of the challenges for police in gang-related slayings, said Plecas, is
that the killer may have been hired by a third person who wanted the
victim dead, and any witnesses have often been unwilling to cooperate with
investigators.

However, Plecas argued that there were fewer brazen shootings in the later
half of 2009 because police started to make inroads against gangsters.

Five people linked to the Red Scorpions and the United Nations gang,
including the Scorpion's Jarrod Bacon and UN boss Doug Vanalstine, were
charged in November with conspiracy to traffic narcotics.

The two gangs are considered to run mid-level drug trafficking operations
and are thought to be responsible for much of the gang violence that has
plagued the Lower Mainland.

Since last spring, six Red Scorpions have been arrested and charged in the
Surrey Six slayings, including Bacon's younger brother Jamie. One former
associate, Dennis Karbovanec, has pleaded guilty to three of the six
executions in the Balmoral Tower on Oct. 19, 2007.

Eight members of the UN gang have been charged with conspiracy to commit
murder for plotting to kill the Bacon brothers and their associates.

And a U.S. court sentenced UN founder Clay Roueche to 30 years in jail
this month in a drug-smuggling case.

Many of 2009's most high-profile slayings, though, are still unsolved. But
Plecas argued these complicated cases take time to compile the evidence
necessary for prosecutors to approve criminal charges.

If 2009 was the year that gangrelated slayings began to level-off, Plecas
predicted 2010 will be the year police will make more arrests.

"I would say there will be less people getting killed in 2010," he said.
"I think in 2010, it will be the year of the arrest. And in 2011, it will
be jail, jail, jail - conviction, conviction, conviction."

While some police critics may suggest the gangsters still emerged
victorious in 2009, Plecas believes officers have made significant
improvements in technology and operations.

In the past, he said, different police departments were not good at
sharing intelligence but now have units such as the Integrated Homicide
Investigations Team to probe murders. In addition, a new database is now
connecting dots about how suspects and victims are linked in the
complicated gang world. And until a few years ago, he said, police had
about 12 intelligence analysts in B.C., while they now have at least 120.

Plecas, who has extensively studied marijuana growing operations, also
said the income for potential gangsters is drying up because more growing
operations are being established in the United States, therefore driving
down demand for B.C. marijuana.

"What will happen is more and more it will become difficult for these
people to elude prosecution," he said.

However, 2009 is ending on a busy note for the IHIT team with a new
killing to investigate: A body found in North Vancouver's Waterfront Park
Dec. 26.