One of the province's top gang cops said the organized crime element in Prince George has taken some hits recently, and more are coming.
Mclean's Magazine's assessment that Prince George's crime rate tops the country is one of the hottest topics in the local public, and just in time for the city's Community Solutions - Gang Crime Summit coming up Nov. 1 and 2. The RCMP's assistant commissioner for B.C., Al Macintyre, said it is a great time for Prince George residents to look inward at what can be done about the gangs on this city's streets but also be open-minded about the outside influences as well.
"There is a correlation in the criminal element - who is connected to who - that would shake most normal folks," said Macintyre, who is the supervisor to the chief operating officer who oversees all gang-related policing activities by the B.C. Mounties. "It is no longer a local issue. You can't even pull back and look just provincially anymore. What's happening on the streets of Prince George is directly connected to what is happening in the Lower Mainland - the same people are involved in both places - but you have to also think about across Canada, across our borders, and offshore."
The building of relationships within policing has become a massive necessity as law enforcement officials of all kinds across the continent and beyond try to get a lasso around the trafficking pipelines of drugs, guns, contraband goods and humans.
One of the tools being used in B.C. is the uniformed anti-gang task force that has occasionally come to Prince George and done ambitious crackdown blitzes in the northern capital alongside local detachment Mounties, North District RCMP, and the plainclothes Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit-North.
"These guys are not here to make friends," said Macintyre. "They are highly experienced, this is what they do day in and day out, they have dealt exclusively on these issues for a long time, and there is a benefit there that they get to come in hard and then leave town. It also boosts the knowledge and the confidence of the local members who do stay behind, but typically those members have to go to the bar fight, then the domestic dispute, then the robbery, then the gang thing, then, then, then..."
Macintyre said Prince George RCMP commander Supt. Brenda Butterworth-Carr "has a clear vision and is hot on this issue" and he has high hopes also for the The Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit-North team that is only about one year old in Prince George.
- The public can weigh in on this subject this weekend at the Community Solutions - Gang Crime Summit being held at The Ramada.
"We already know we have 120 people registered for day sessions, and 80 for the open space session," said Citizen publisher Hugh Nicholson, who co-founded the event with the Prince George RCMP, the City of Prince George, and Prince George Community Policing. Many other partners have joined the effort.
"We are exceeding expectations already, it's very exciting to see the response," Nicholson said.
Register for the gang summit or the free public forum on Monday Nov. 1 by logging on to: http://www.civicinfo.bc.ca/event/pggangcrimesummit.asp or in person at City Hall.
The cost to attend the two-day summit is $55, and includes lunch for both days. The public evening forum is free.
