CRIMES INVOLVING YOUTH DROP 21%

By Kim Pemberton, Vancouver Sun

The drug-related slayings of four young people in the spring of 2009
are among the reasons cited by Abbotsford police for a 21-per-cent
reduction in youth crime last year -the most dramatic decrease in four
years.

"We're talking about a demographic hit [in murders] and young people
recognized it immediately," said police spokesman Const. Ian MacDonald.

"They recognized there was a problem and hopefully those who were
making law-abiding choices recognized they were on the right path and
those who were thinking of crossing over didn't."

Abbotsford had one of the highest homicide rates for a city its size
in 2009, when 11 people were murdered. Eight of the murders were
gang-related and of these, four were of young people aged 17 to 21.

The four were Ryan Richards, 19, who was found in a field behind a
store in Abbotsford; Sean Murphy, 21, who was shot to death behind the
wheel of a car in Bateman Park; and W. J. Mouat high school students
Joseph Randy, 18, and Dilsher Gill, 17, who were found in a car on
Sumas Mountain. Their deaths remain unsolved.

In 2010, there were four murders, none involving young
people.

"You can go though the fatal crime statistics, motor vehicle
statistics and youth crime statistics and think what an anomaly, but
the position I adopt is youth in Abbotsford are making the right
choices," said MacDonald.

He said of the 21 fatal car collisions in Abbotsford in 2010, none
involved youths, which "flies in the face of ICBC statistics."

There were 548 youth crimes overall in 2007, 558 in 2008, 550 in 2009,
and 433 in 2010.

MacDonald said police have been actively engaged in youth crime
awareness, doing such things as visiting high schools to talk about
the dangers of joining gangs. He said while this likely helped, he
believes most of the credit for the youth crime reduction in
Abbotsford belongs to the youth themselves.