Pubdate: Fri, 27 Jun 2003 Source: Daily Herald-Tribune, The (CN AB) Copyright: 2003 The Daily Herald-Tribune Contact: http://www.dailyheraldtribune.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/804 Author: Carol Harrington NEW ORGANIZED CRIME UNIT ON TAP CALGARY - The Alberta government is creating a provincewide police unit to battle organized crime by gangs that have infiltrated cities throughout the province, Solicitor General Heather Forsyth announced Thursday. ''This is a dark day for members of organized crime in our province,'' Forsyth said. ''We will not put up with another drive-by shooting, another child hooked on meth or another senior victimized by fraud. ''We are going to keep our communities safe.'' She said the province will more than double the $2.4 million it now spends each year to fight organized crime and street gangs because the problem has spread beyond Calgary and Edmonton to smaller cities, including Red Deer, Lethbridge, Medicine Hat, Fort McMurray and Grande Prairie. The unit is to target rival street gangs, who have taken their violence to the streets where several public shooting deaths have occurred in the last few years. Crime generally has recently decreased in Alberta, but police fear the approximately 25 organized crime groups in the province are expanding their activities to include methamphetamine labs and marijuana grow-operations. Police say the gangs, which are battling over territory turf, are also extorting, laundering money, hiring hit men for murder, smuggling immigrants, stealing citizen identities and manipulating stock markets. The new police unit is to complement rather than replace those in existing police departments that already investigate organized crime and gangs. The new initiative was developed by several police chiefs throughout Alberta. - --- MAP posted-by: Doc-Hawk