LONG ON IDEAS, SHORT ON TIME

Seeking Ways To Fight Biker Crime

Ask front-line police officers what it would take to stop criminal
biker activity and responses are bleak. They don't favour long
discussions about creating a special federal force or restructuring
the office of provincial Crown prosecutors. They go for the big
picture -- and they figure they've got about a two-week window (as
with any big crime story in the news) during which the public pays attention.

Maybe this time, with biker crime, they've got three weeks. The
countdown began last weekend when eight men, all either "full-patch"
Bandidos or associated with the gang, were found shot to death near
London, Ont. There was another spike of public awareness a few days
later with reports that a member of the Hells Angels was among five
gangsters who pleaded guilty to multiple charges in a bungled
underworld hit and paid $2 million to the crime's victim,
wheelchair-bound Louise Russo.

So the public should be listening. What to do?

"Remove the profit, remove the market, take away the demand for
drugs," was the immediate response of Det.-Insp. Don Bell, head of
the Biker Enforcement Unit of the Ontario Provincial Police. On a
telephone break from his investigation into the weekend massacre
(five people were charged with first-degree murder, including a
Bandidos biker), he said that there's "money to be made from preying
on the weak and that's what they do."

While it would be great to shut down the illegal drug bazaar (see
page D5), it's not Bell's main job to be ferreting out root societal
causes. His people are too busy in the trenches. But as long as
there's such huge money to be made by OMGs (outlaw motorcycle gangs),
he dismisses proposed solutions as "pie-in-the-sky."

Moreover, Ben Soave, the former RCMP chief superintendent who retired
last year from a special organized crime task force, adds a stark
statistical perspective. For nine years, he headed the Combined
Forces Special Enforcement Unit for Ontario, with officers working
together against organized crime from the RCMP, the Toronto, Durham
and Peel police forces, the OPP, Canada Customs, Canada Immigration and CSIS.

In his experience -- and he retired less than 12 months ago -- his
officers were able to investigate only two or three cases -- four at
the most -- every year. At any time across Canada, Soave estimates
police are investigating about 25 per cent of organized crime
activity in the country.

That means that about 75 per cent of organized criminals can "do as
they please," he said, stressing he's not blaming police departments
that are stretched to their limits.

Organized criminal activity is big business, complex and with many
tentacles. The work of his unit often overlapped with the OPP biker
squad and he saw illicit biker ties to all levels of organized crime.
Soave said biker gangs (and we're not talking weekend recreational
riders) act as enforcers for other organized crime figures
- --"violence is part of biker culture" -- and have their finger in
extortion, prostitution, drugs, offshore gambling and money-laundering.

While nobody suggests Canada is on the brink of turning into a
drug-cartel country, there is pessimism about just who is winning the
war. A retired OPP officer, for instance, sent an email last week to
express frustration at the flow of drugs through Ontario.

"Drugs flow not on a river, but on rubber," he said, arguing that if
more police were out on Ontario highways on Easter weekend looking
for drug shipments rather than seatbelt infractions, there might be
some progress. "Stop enough suspect vehicles and you stop the drugs.
But where are the police? ... It's all out there on wheels, all day,
all night, and uniforms can stop it cold. But there's no political will."

Ah, political will. Most law enforcement personnel appear to agree on
that one issue: political will comes from public pressure, which
comes from public awareness.

The two-week window came from Soave. As he put it: "If nothing else
comes out of this violence with outlaw motorcycle gangs, it should be
public awareness of their violence and their power to do what they
want to do whenever they want to do it."

Of course, ideas for solutions are bubbling throughout the system.
Many surfaced last week in interviews, on and off the record, with
law enforcement officers, active and retired, and others involved in
the criminal justice system.

Resources -- rather, lack of -- are a big issue. Public priorities
shift and funding has to catch up. Soave said "up to 9/11, the
national tactical priority in Canada was organized crime. With 9/11
everything changed and, although organized crime investigations were
still ongoing, we shifted to counter-terrorism." He ended up with a
two-pronged job, the first with the organized crime task force and
the second as chief of the Integrated National Security Enforcement
Team, which focuses on counter-terrorism.

Both approaches are necessary, in his view. But for organized crime
not to flourish, he said more resources should be pumped into
training police officers to take on an increasingly sophisticated and
international organized crime network.

Other ideas include:

- - A federal force to combat organized crime. Paul Palango, author and
expert on the RCMP, argues that the "real problem in policing, as
verified by the auditor general, is the organization of the police in
Canada. The RCMP has virtually no federal presence (and) federal
policing capability like the FBI."

- - A dedicated team of federal prosecutors to work on organized crime cases.

- - Stiffer sentences and mandatory minimums for any crime involving a
criminal conspiracy, including mortgage fraud, telemarketing, credit
card fraud.

- - A restructuring of provincial Crown offices. There's a strong
argument that Crown prosecutors are overworked and underpaid compared
with private-sector criminal lawyers. They spend weekends writing
letters to judges, police, defence counsel on organized crime cases
and often have little time to prepare cases properly. They have to
balance time with regular courtroom rotation that, for a couple of
days each month, puts them in bail or remand court. Dedicate junior
people to rotation, say critics.

Meanwhile, for an officer such as Don Bell, whose Easter week took a
dramatic turn with the macabre discovery in a woodlot near London,
some public awareness would be a start.

As he remarked about biker gangs at last week's OPP press conference:
"It should be noted that these individuals are criminals. They're not
the motorcycle enthusiasts they like to portray themselves to be."

There may be Christmas trees outside biker buildings and websites
brimming with spin, but Bell doesn't spend his time tracking Easy
Rider or Marlon Brando riding into the sunset.