1 GANG SUBDUED, 5 TO GO FOR COPS

It's been a rough couple of weeks for the city's street gangs. First,
Ottawa police rounded up many members of the city's most violent
street gang, the Ledbury-Banff Crips, forcing the remaining members to
lie low.

Then police went public with the gang's actions, which include drug
trafficking and prostitution.

"The gang itself has been impacted according to interviews with gang
members," said Sgt. John Medeiros, head of the Ottawa police gang unit.

Although dismantling the south-end gang remains a high priority for
police, they have not forgotten about the five other "hard-core"
street gangs in the city, said Medeiros.

But he said it's difficult to gauge whether recent public attention
has had a detrimental effect on the gangs' operations.

In the Bayshore area, a spate of graffiti has recently cropped up,
leaving residents to speculate that they have a street gang in their
neighbourhood.

"It's obviously an issue we're looking at," said Medeiros.

A gang unit investigator went to the neighbourhood this week to take
photographs of the offending graffiti and speak with residents.

"To say they have a gang in Bayshore, I wouldn't say that's accurate
at this point," said Medeiros. "But there are gangs operating in
neighbourhoods in this city."

Medeiros said he was not "denying" there are gangs in the west end,
but added that investigators must do their homework on this recent
case of graffiti before saying whether it's linked to an established
gang.

'Community Issue'

A positive spinoff that police have noticed since going public about
the city's gangs is the increased interest from members of the
community about how they can help prevent new gangs from springing up
in their neighbourhoods.

"Everybody has a role to play," said Medeiros. "It's a community
issue, it's not just a police issue."

Parents have also been requesting information from the police on how
to prevent their kids from being recruited by a gang.

Police are looking to establish partnerships with other agencies, such
as social housing, schools and immigration organizations, to address
the problem of street gangs in the city.

"It plays a key role in being able to deal with future gang problems,"
said Medeiros. "There's an element of suppression when dealing with
gangs, but there's also a level of education."