KWINTER PLEDGES $1.26M FOR POLICE CRACKDOWN ON GUNS AND GANGS

The province will spend $1.26 million to help police in Brantford and
three other municipalities combat guns, gangs and illegal drugs.

The money, announced Monday, will be used to establish a joint-forces
operation that includes Halton, Hamilton and Niagara.

"This is an intelligence initiative," said city police Chief Derek
McElveny, who joined Community Safety and Correctional Services
Minister Monte Kwinter for the announcement at the Elgin Street police station.

"This will help us better recognize who is involved in these types of
activities, where they are operating and when they're coming into town."

The joint forces unit will include a crime analyst, as well as police
officers from all four jurisdictions, including two from Brantford.
Representatives will meet in early August to formalize plans.

The initiative is part of the province's anti-violence intervention
strategy, which targets communities confronted by increased gang and
gun-related activity, Kwinter said.

"Guns, gangs and illegal drugs have no place in our communities," he
said. "We will continue to work with our policing partners to rid
Ontario of drug labs and grow operations and to protect our citizens."

Efforts to combat gun and gang crime in Toronto have squeezed some
crooks out of the Greater Toronto Area into some of the smaller
communities, including Brantford, Hamilton, Niagara and Halton. As a
result some communities have seen increases in violent crime.

During what's been dubbed the "weekend of violence" in November 2005,
city police, in a 24-hour period, were confronted with six incidents
involving weapons and armed robberies of citizens and cab drivers.
Several people with Toronto addresses were arrested in connection
with those incidents.

"When we had that weekend of violence, we arrested several people,
most of whom were from out of town," McElveny said. "But what if we
hadn't made those arrests.

"How would we have followed up on something like that if they had
managed to get out of town before we caught them?"

McElveny said that those investigations would have been extremely
complicated and costly had the culprits made it out of the city.

In the past couple of years, city police have responded to numerous
shootings, including one on Palace Street where a man was shot and
another incident at a Park Road North home. And, just over a year
ago, city police seized AK-47 assault rifles, shotguns and handguns
following a search of a Burwell Street residence.

Monday's funding announcement is part of the provincial government's
$12-million anti-crime package introduced on June 6.

In addition to targeting guns and gang violence, the package takes
aim a crystal methamphetamine labs by creating a special team to
dismantle them. As well, a task force will be created on marijuana
grow operations.

With respect to guns and gangs, Kwinter said the province has been
pressing for a handgun ban from the federal government, which so far
has not shown interest in pursuing the proposal.

Speaking to reporters following his formal remarks, the minister
noted that an AK-47 was found in the bedroom of a Toronto boy. "How
does someone 13 years of age get an AK-47?"

Tuesday's announcement included a display of guns and illegal drugs
recently seized in the city. Included were a pen gun, a pistol with a
silencer, a sawed-off shotgun and an AK-47.

Brant MPP Dave Levac said that people must realize the problem of
guns and gangs is everywhere.

"This investment will go a long way to combating the spread of guns
and gangs in Brantford and Ontario," Levac said. "It sends a clear
signal that the McGuinty government will not tolerate illegal
activities anywhere in Ontario."