Pubdate: Tue, 01 Mar 2011 Source: Vancouver Sun (CN BC) Copyright: 2011 The Vancouver Sun Contact: http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/letters.html Website: http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/477 Author: Kim Pemberton CRIMES INVOLVING YOUTH DROP 21% By Kim Pemberton, Vancouver Sun The drug-related slayings of four young people in the spring of 2009 are among the reasons cited by Abbotsford police for a 21-per-cent reduction in youth crime last year -the most dramatic decrease in four years. "We're talking about a demographic hit [in murders] and young people recognized it immediately," said police spokesman Const. Ian MacDonald. "They recognized there was a problem and hopefully those who were making law-abiding choices recognized they were on the right path and those who were thinking of crossing over didn't." Abbotsford had one of the highest homicide rates for a city its size in 2009, when 11 people were murdered. Eight of the murders were gang-related and of these, four were of young people aged 17 to 21. The four were Ryan Richards, 19, who was found in a field behind a store in Abbotsford; Sean Murphy, 21, who was shot to death behind the wheel of a car in Bateman Park; and W. J. Mouat high school students Joseph Randy, 18, and Dilsher Gill, 17, who were found in a car on Sumas Mountain. Their deaths remain unsolved. In 2010, there were four murders, none involving young people. "You can go though the fatal crime statistics, motor vehicle statistics and youth crime statistics and think what an anomaly, but the position I adopt is youth in Abbotsford are making the right choices," said MacDonald. He said of the 21 fatal car collisions in Abbotsford in 2010, none involved youths, which "flies in the face of ICBC statistics." There were 548 youth crimes overall in 2007, 558 in 2008, 550 in 2009, and 433 in 2010. MacDonald said police have been actively engaged in youth crime awareness, doing such things as visiting high schools to talk about the dangers of joining gangs. He said while this likely helped, he believes most of the credit for the youth crime reduction in Abbotsford belongs to the youth themselves. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard R Smith Jr.