ORGANIZED CRIME NUMBERS INCREASE ACCORDING TO CISC

Organized Crime Groups Have Significantly Increased According To The
Criminal Intelligence Service Canada (Cisc) 2007 Annual Report On
Organized Crime In Canada Released Last Week.

In the report, the Canadian criminal intelligence community
identified approximately 950 organized crime groups in 2007, compared
to an estimated 800 groups in 2006.

"The distribution and street level sales of illicit drugs are
probably the number one organized crime activity," Rick Bohachyk,
Criminal Intelligence Service of Alberta director, said. "And [that
is] prevalent in all areas of the province."

In regards to Whitecourt specifically, Bohachyk stated that the
purchase and sale of illegal drugs might occur more frequently than
most places due to the well paying jobs in the oil and gas industry.

"Whitecourt has a lot of industry and a lot of people [with] a lot of
individuals who are making some fairly decent money," Bohachyk said.
"The concern should be from otherwise normal, law biding people who
are supporting organized crime by purchasing and using marijuana and
cocaine and other drugs for recreational purposes."

The average person may wonder how the occasional use of recreational
drugs can really influence the bigger picture. "Every time a guy buys
a little bag of dope, maybe to him its no big deal," Bohachyk said.

"But the little bag of dope comes from a bigger supply of dope which
may come from a grow op that's happening in Whitecourt committed by
organized crime."

Whitecourt mayor, Trevor Thain, stated that he believes organized
crime is not something that citizens here should be concerned with,
at least not yet.

"As it stands right now, if anything like that was to show up in
Whitecourt, the only thing that I could think of would be the biker
[gangs]," Thain said. "I don't think that we have any evidence of it
being organized as of yet."

Bohachyk also stated that theft, a crime that has been identified in
Whitecourt, is also linked to a much larger scale of organized crime.
"There are thefts of opportunity [which is when] one individual
steals something," Bohachyk stated. "Organized crime requires at
least three people working in concert, and on it goes."

Thain also stated that he agrees that a community experiencing a
period of greater wealth will be more susceptible to such crime.

"As any community grows and the wealthier it gets the more
economically viable it gets, the opportunity for this type of crime
is always there," Thain said. "But that is one thing that the RCMP
maintain a vigilant eye for."

The CISC report was released in an effort to raise awareness of
organized crime throughout Canada as well as how organized crime
affects citizens on a local scale.

Organized crime operates in several different types of communities,
the report also stated, from major urban cities to rural areas.

According to the report, approximately 80 per cent of all crime
groups in Canada are involved in the drug market, particularly as
street-level traffickers.

The report also emphasized that organized crime is never victimless.
"We all pay a price when organized crime profits from illicit
activities, whether through increased insurance rates, a diminished
sense of security, or as direct victims of crime," Robert Fahlman,
acting director general, CISC said in the report. "In paying a price
we lose a measure of the freedom that is sacred to all Canadians."

Bohachyk stated that he believes local community members can make a
difference in decreasing the threat of organized crime but the first
step is recognizing that committing petty crime does in fact
contribute to the larger picture.

"Buying dope from a guy whose group is involved in a gang war and is
doing drive by shootings, I mean, connect the dots," he said. "And
that's the message that is lacking right now and people aren't
accepting responsibility because they don't want to connect the dots."

Local RCMP were not available for comment at this time.