Pubdate: Fri, 27 Aug 2004 Source: Regina Leader-Post (CN SN) Copyright: 2004 The Leader-Post Ltd. Contact: http://www.canada.com/regina/leaderpost/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/361 Author: Anne Kyle, Leader-Post Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?188 (Outlaw Bikers) SASK. GANGS MORE VIOLENT Street gangs are increasingly becoming more violent and while most of that violence is directed between rival gang members, innocent bystanders have been caught in the middle, said Bob Bazin, director of Criminal Intelligence Service Saskatchewan. "The cost of organized crime on the economy and the social, economic and health costs associated with the illicit drug trade is a huge drain on society," said Bazin, calling on Saskatchewan residents to take a pro-active role in the agency's efforts to stymie gang and organized criminal activity in the province. "Street gangs have been around Saskatchewan for about 10 years. The problem on the Prairies is somewhat unique because most of our street gangs are primarily aboriginal youth, although we are seeing a mixture of both -- street gangs and criminal organizations (Hells Angels and Asian-based organizations) here," Bazin said. "We are no different than some of the larger cities like Montreal and Toronto where we are seeing a growth in the street gang populations and some of their activities," he said. In Saskatchewan, the primary aboriginal-based gangs are the Native Syndicate in Regina and the Indian Posse in Saskatoon, but gang activity has also been seen in Prince Albert, North Battleford and Yorkton, as well as in some of the smaller urban centres and on reserves, Bazin said. The Hells Angels have also moved into Saskatchewan, which is cause for concern, he said. Nationally, Bazin said, the Criminal Intelligence Service is seeing a trend where organized crime gangs, such as the Hells Angels, are using aboriginal street gangs and younger gang members as their workforce to collect debts and act as enforcers, threatening and intimidating the competition in the drug trade and anyone who might come forth and testify against the organization or its members, he said. "If you look at the crime trends there is a lot of violence going on right now, especially with street gangs. They are not afraid to use violence to support their means. What we are really seeing a lot of in Saskatchewan, especially with street gangs, is the intimidation of witnesses to reduce the number of people willing to step forward to testify against them or file complaints against them," Bazin said. Efforts to fight street gangs and organized criminal activity must start at the ground level through public education for our young people about the pitfalls of joining a gang, and to ensure parents, schools, social agencies and the communities work pro-actively with police enforcement agents to detect, reduce and prevent organized and serious crime in Canada, Bazin said. Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations (FSIN) Vice-Chief Lawrence Joseph said the federation has adopted a number of pro-active strategies and programs to discourage young people from joining gangs in response to their own study that found gang activity was a strong and emerging problem on reserves and in our cities. "Our focus was not on busting up the gangs, but on gang-proofing our young people and communities. We wanted to offer young people healthy alternatives to gang activity and to teach parents what signs to look out for if they suspected their child might be involved in gang activity," he said. While there is no hard evidence to prove the program is working, it was well received, Joseph said. "If we were able to save one youngster from joining a gang then the program was a success," he said. - --- MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager