SHARING INTELLIGENCE: A BID TO TRACK THE DRUG TRADE

Teams target gangsters at Victoria hot spots

Gangsters from the Lower Mainland who set down roots in Greater
Victoria are being closely watched by local police, whose intelligence
is being shared with the province's gang task force to target the drug
trade.

"We certainly know we have gang members that are known from the Lower
Mainland that are living in Victoria, and we need to know why they are
here and what they are doing here," said Victoria police Insp. Jamie
Pearce, moments before the Vancouver-based Integrated Gang Task Force
hit the streets in downtown Victoria last weekend.

The task force went into action the Saturday after Canada Day, looking
for gang members spending their long weekend in the capital.

It was the third year the task force had paid Victoria a visit over
the holiday, the busiest day of the year for local
authorities.

The task force also spent a night in Campbell River and Nanaimo, known
for Hells Angels and other biker gangs.

Pearce said the shooting death of 20-year-old University of Victoria
student Philbert Truong on July 19, 2008, outside the former Red
Jacket nightclub on View Street, is a deadly example of the violence
caused by gangs in Greater Victoria.

Truong was an innocent victim caught in the middle of a petty dispute
between his friend, Thuan Le, and a self-described Red Scorpion gang
member, Somphavanh (Ricky) Chanthabouala, then 22.

Chanthabouala, the mastermind of the shooting, was convicted of
first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison with no chance of
parole for 25 years. His co-accused, Mark Arrieta, 16 at the time, was
convicted in July 2009 of second-degree murder and two counts of
attempted murder. He was sentenced as an adult to life in prison, with
no chance of parole for seven years.

"That was directly related to a Vancouver gang that had moved to
Victoria," said Pearce.

The Red Scorpions are considered one of the most violent gangs in
B.C.

Police shut down a dial-a-dope operation that was eventually linked to
Chanthabouala, Arrieta and six others who were arrested.

"So we were already aware that gangs do not have borders and they
operate in our area just like any other area," Pearce said.

Victoria police partnered with the Victoria Bar and Cabaret
Association to set up the Bar Watch program at 14 bars and nightclubs
downtown. The bars now have software that scan people's IDs to
identify troublemakers.

If someone is kicked out of one bar, the information is logged so that
they cannot get into the next place they visit, if that bar is in Bar
Watch.

A troublemaker can also be banned from participating bars for a up to
a year.

The TreoScope technology has come under fire from B.C.'s Privacy
Commissioner, who objected to the storing of personal information. The
company agreed to store information of patrons who don't cause
problems for only 24 hours.

Bar Watch also gives police the power to remove anyone with a history
of violence or known criminal associations from the bar. That is why
the gang task force's uniform section spends a lot of time in bars
checking IDs, trying to weed out the bad guys.

"Our objective is to identify them in public places, licensed
establishments and remove them," said Supt. Tom McCluskie, who heads
the gang task force.

"We've had a lot of shootings over the years in public establishments
[in Metro Vancouver] and it's our feeling that, as a citizen, as a
family, you should be able to go to a restaurant and enjoy a meal
without the concern of gangsters coming in and retaliating on other
gangsters."

While the task force focuses on Metro Vancouver, its officers travel
across B.C., sending the message that gangsters cannot hide in small
communities.

"We're in high demand across the province, but unfortunately we can't
be everywhere," McCluskie said.

Sgt. Keiron McDonnell, one of the Vancouver police officers on the
Integrated Gang Task Force's uniform section, said no community wants
to admit it has a gang problem.

"I put it this way. Victoria doesn't have a gang problem. The province
of B.C. has a gang problem and Victoria is in it."