Pubdate: Thu, 16 Jul 2015
Source: Medicine Hat News (CN AB)
Copyright: 2015 Alberta Newspaper Group, Inc.
Contact:  http://www.medicinehatnews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1833
Author: Peggy Revell
Page: A1

ECONOMY GOES DOWN, ORGANIZED CRIME GOES UP

MHPS acknowledge hard times in the community mean crime and drug
addiction will follow

The Medicine Hat Police Service shares concerns with other provincial
enforcement agencies that the economic downturn could spur greater
violence by outlaw biker gangs and other organized crime groups.

"In fact, we've already seen hints of that going on with some locals
in town trying to control the drug trade," said Insp. Brent Secondiak,
as those involved in the drug trade "try to monopolize the limited
funds that are out there."

Combined with the increase in methamphetamines, Secondiak said "we'll
definitely see more violence because there's going to be a struggle
for control."

The concerns echo those made earlier this week by Alberta Law
Enforcement Response Teams (ALERT).

The Hells Angels are the most prevalent of these organizations in
Alberta, but there aren't any full patch members in Medicine Hat,
Secondiak said.

They attempted to set up a clubhouse in Medicine Hat in 2001-2, he
added, but police shut it down.

"Every time they try to get a foothold in Medicine Hat, we're very
active in enforcement to get them out of our community."

"We have had a couple (support clubs) but we've managed to do enough
enforcement with them that they have left town or collapsed. We do
have one group that we're actively investigating that we're attempting
to disrupt as we speak."

All of the drug trade flow in Alberta is controlled by organized
crime, said Secondiak.

"They have people who are associated to gang members here but aren't
actual full patch gang members."

Those involved are a mixture - people the police have never seen
before coming in to the city, but also locals well-known to police,
said Secondiak.

"Generally we know who they are, target them, and do enforcement on
them."

Being a smaller city, police are "very good at identifying targets
quickly and being able to deal with them effectively, early," said
Secondiak - a cautionary tale to people who may see joining these
gangs to make money while times are tight.

Methamphetamines troubles

Coinciding with the downturn, MHPS has seen a "huge increase" in
methamphetamines here, and taking the place of crack/cocaine, said
Secondiak - troubling because this drug is associated with more
violence, lasts longer, is "more devastating" physically and more
addicting than crack/cocaine.

"I know we're going to see when we tabulate the stats (for violence)
that there's going to be an increase in that, just because of the
effects of meth."

Fentanyl is another drug that police are worried about, due to the
deaths that have been associated with it.

"It's very troublesome for us but we're trying our best," he said,
noting the arrest made a month ago of 12 people for meth. Some of
these are out on bail currently, and police are "actively ensuring"
they comply with their bail conditions. Police also recently made two
large seizures of Fentanyl.

The spin-off crime is harder for police to tabulate he said, but
something patrols and ALERT are noticing.

"We know we've had home invasions with people looking for meth, we
know we've had more assaults. We suspect that we've had more petty
crimes with vehicle entries, theft and fraud that people will do to
feed our drug habit, but I think it will be some time before we're
able to calculate the exact effect."

Police are also concerned about people turning to drugs as a release
and escape during the downturn.

"I think we're going to see an increase in addictions here in the
city," he said, and police are working on a better community response.
"It's troubling."
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MAP posted-by: Matt