Pubdate: Fri, 10 Jul 2015
Source: Province, The (CN BC)
Copyright: 2015 Postmedia Network Inc.
Contact: http://www2.canada.com/theprovince/letters.html
Website: http://www.theprovince.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/476
Author: Jennifer Saltman

SURREY SHOOTINGS WEAR DOWN RESIDENTS

Police Have Teamed Up, Now Hailing 'Great Strides' In Reducing 
Shots-Fired Incidents

When Doug Elford heard Sunday that two shootings had taken place in 
his neighbourhood - one five minutes from his home - his reaction was 
"another day, another shooting."

"It's almost like the edge has worn off," said Elford, a member of 
the Newton Community Association. "I'm getting a little jaded."

It's not surprising, considering that at the end of May the occupants 
of two cars shot at each other less than a block from Elford's home 
as residents were out enjoying a warm spring evening.

"It just never seems to be letting up," he said. "People are getting 
really frustrated."

Data compiled by The Province shows there have been 37 shootings in 
Surrey in the past 120 days. That's a shooting roughly every three 
days, amounting to dozens of bullets ripping through the air.

About half of the incidents happened in the Newton area, many of the 
others in nearby Whalley.

Police say that much of the gunplay is related to a low-level drug 
turf war between two groups of dial-a-dopers. One group already has a 
strong hold on the drug trade in the Newton area, and another is 
attempting a takeover.

Of the 37 recent shootings, 16 have related to that drug war, and 
have come on top of three gang shootings in Delta and one in Langley 
over the same period.

Surrey RCMP have teamed up with Delta Police and the Combined Forces 
Special Enforcement Unit (CFSEU) to try to stop the violence.

CFSEU spokesman Sgt. Lindsey Houghton said Surrey RCMP reached out 
for help in early March and officers have been employing a number of 
different covert and overt tactics. Police are stopping vehicles, 
seizing weapons, making arrests, recommending charges, appealing to 
the public and trying to reason with the people involved and their families.

"In the last three to four months we've collectively made great 
strides in reducing the number of instances of shots fired and 
gunplay," Houghton said. There were 12 shootings in March, 20 in 
April, seven in June and two so far in July in Surrey, Delta and Langley.

Elford said he and other residents support the police, but wonder how 
the shootings continue to happen in spite of the focus on preventing them.

"These young men are just going on brazenly, lawlessly doing their 
business," Elford said. "It's frustrating for us. Why aren't you on 
top of this once and for all?"

One concern residents have is that the shooters don't seem to be 
hitting their targets most of the time. Out of the 41 shootings or 
reports of shots fired in Surrey, Delta and Langley, 17 have resulted 
in injury and there has been one death, on April 19 at 126 Street and 
88 Avenue.

Houses, vehicles and the glass of a busy restaurant patio are among 
the things that have been hit instead of people. The bullets could 
easily have killed or injured bystanders.

"We've had friends and acquaintances ducking for cover in Newton 
during these daylight rolling gun battles," Elford said. "It's just a 
miracle more people haven't been hurt - innocent people haven't been hurt."

Houghton said a number of things can contribute to shooters missing 
their targets, including inexperience, equipment, psychological and 
physiological factors or the desire to scare instead of kill.

"These are split-second things that more often than not aren't very 
well planned out or thought out," Houghton said. "They're almost 
always crimes of opportunity."

Elford said he doesn't know whether the solution is more police, a 
change in leadership or some kind of task force, but the residents of 
Newton are not going to fade away.

He said the community association made a promise to the family of 
Julie Paskall, who died after being robbed outside Newton Arena in 
2013, that they would continue fighting.

"We may sound like the squeaky wheel, but with 41 shootings in a 
couple of months it's hard not to justify speaking out. It's ongoing 
and it has to stop," Elford said.

"We've got to focus all the resources on this problem."
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