GANGS COMPETE FOR TURF IN CRD

The last thing police need is gang members from other Canadian cities
coming to the Capital Region to do business. Yet that's precisely what
Victoria police are seeing of late.

"Over the summertime, we've noticed a real spike in gang members as well as
other active criminals moving out west," said Victoria police Sgt. Bob
Martin, who heads the department's gang unit.

It's becoming quite common for police to run into gang members from
Alberta, particularly Edmonton, he said. Two known gang members from
Edmonton were arrested by Victoria police in July.

Police confiscated a nine-millimetre handgun and some marijuana.

The two are members of the Cripps, named after the notorious gang that's
associated with large American cities.

"These guys were sporting Cripps tattoos," Martin said. "These individuals
are pretty bad characters."

They are well known to the Edmonton police gang unit and are believed to be
violent and involved in drug trafficking, Martin said. "They're certainly
not the type of visitors we want to see coming here," he said.

The use of handguns isn't restricted to gang members from large Canadian
cities. Police are coming across handguns among Greater Victoria gang
members more so than in the past, Martin said.

"If they can obtain a gun, they will," he said.

That said, police are concerned about what could happen if there are any
disputes between gang members from other Canadian cities and their
counterparts in the Capital Region. One group of Capital Region-based gang
members are known as the Esquimalt Cripps or simply the E-Crew.

Despite the shared Cripps' name, there doesn't seem to be any relationship
with local gangs and gang members from other cities who have been showing
up in Greater Victoria, Martin said.

"Our concern is that at some point if these guys cross paths there's going
to be some sort of violence as a result of it," he said.

Two ongoing murder investigations in Saanich with ties to Indo-Canadian
gang activity on the Lower Mainland are examples of how gang-related
violence from other cities can make its way to the Capital Region, Martin said.

The primary activity of gangs - local and imported - in the Capital Region
is cocaine trafficking, he said. Gangs are also involved in the marijuana
trade, Martin said.

It's becoming evident to police that organized crime is on the increase in
Greater Victoria.

"Organized crime is getting a foothold even more and more here," Martin said.

Police have information that "upper level" organized crime members from as
far east as Montreal attempting to establish themselves in the Capital
Region, he said.

"These guys come with pretty good credentials," Martin said. "People need
to be aware of the fact that organized crime is here and it's operating at
a very high level."

A source familiar with the provincial jail on Wilkinson Road said gang
activity is common in that institution. Gang members serving time or
awaiting trial dates in the facility often fight over territory in the
prison, according to the source, who asked not to be identified.

"If there's three members from one gang and one member from another gang,
you end up with a swarming. They'll get him in the shower or they'll get
him in his cell where the officers can't see him and really do a number on
him," the source said.

That has prompted guards to ensure that they are kept separate from each
other, the source said.

"Otherwise they end up fighting over what they consider to be their area."

Gang members incarcerated in Wilkinson Road jail come from various Canadian
cities, although most of them are from the Capital Region and elsewhere on
Vancouver Island, the source said.

"The people that do come in are really open about who they're affiliated with."

Gang members in the jail typically alter their prison uniforms to identify
their gangs, the source said. Aside from the Cripps, the jail is also home
to another local gang known as the West Coast Players.

At the same time, gang members from elsewhere are making their presence
known in the Capital Region, local gangs are branching out to other parts
of Canada.

"We've also been receiving information of our guys stretching their wings
out as far east as Newfoundland. So as we import we're also exporting,"
Martin pointed out.