GANGS IN MOOSE JAW

Moose Jaw's Street Gang Problem Is Slowly Getting Worse, According To Police.

Members of the Native Syndicate and Indian Posse are known to be
living on South Hill and in the east part of the city and are
responsible for a large portion of the drug trade in Moose Jaw.

"They show up at (downtown bars) around midnight some nights wearing
their colours," said police Chief Terry Coleman. "Here in
Saskatchewan, the street gang problem is with Aboriginal street
gangs. They're far more organized and structured than a few years ago."

According to police intelligence, Saskatchewan's Aboriginal gangs
originated in the correctional system in the 1980s.

"The Indian Posse is defunct pretty much everywhere else in the
Prairies," said Insp. Tim Arnott, adding some chapters have been
incorporated into other gangs or run out of major centres by bigger gangs.

"Here is the only place left for them to go."

Police started seeing gangs in Moose Jaw about eight years ago. At
the time, it appeared they were fleeing larger centres like
Saskatoon and Brandon during times of turmoil with police or other gangs.

For the last five years, gangs have been moving into Moose Jaw,
attracted here by the ease of selling drugs and engaging in
prostitution and by a police force too busy to adequately deal with them.

"It's frustrating because now's the time to get out in front of it
and we're not able to," said Coleman, adding Regina police have
given him the names of known gang members who recently moved to Moose Jaw.

"The province has dumped a lot of money into combined special forces
units on organized crime. The problem is that their efforts are
flushing people out, not just to Moose Jaw, but to Weyburn and Lumsden, also."

The units are often busy in larger centres and unable to devote time
to smaller cities.

The Moose Jaw Police Service, which had about 20 people in its
plainclothes unit in 1985, is down to between four and seven now and
would have to put all other activities on hold in order to further
investigate the gang situation, said Coleman.

Although there haven't been turf wars or other violent acts reported
yet, Coleman predicts it will happen if police don't get the
resources necessary to head off the problem.

"Just because it hasn't happened yet, doesn't mean it won't happen."