The Emergence of Gang Violence and Shootings in Metro-Vancouver

As we all know, there has been an on-going problem with gang violence and shootings in the lower mainland. This is a vast topic with many different issues to it, but I would like to discuss my opinions on this occurrence. Through the media, it appears that the police are trying to put an end to all this violence; however, I don’t see this happening. Articulating an idea is a good start, but implementing it is what really makes a difference. Yes, the Police have been initiating new crime prevention strategies such as the Vancouver Police Department’s approach titled “Project Rebellion”, The RCMP’s IHIT (Integrated Homicide Investigation Team), and Coquitlam’s RCMP’s serious crime unit, but are these as effective as they might claim? With all these forces working and exchanging information between one another it has helped to make the streets of the lower mainland a little bit safer, but others, along with myself, don’t feel safe in this community. There have been many incidents where so called “gangsters” have been released on bail and simply flee the country and this, of course, is easy for these kinds of people to do considering their immense amounts of wealth through illegal activities. Situations like these really make the justice system look extremely unintelligent/indulgent and are not, by any means, aiding the goal of detterence. A new bylaw concerning gun offences has been introduced as a result of all these shooting and sure this is a good step, but why stop there? It seems as though the government believes that one bylaw will change everything. By March, there had been 30 shootings in Metro Vancouver and Abbotsford since the beginning of 2009 with a dozen of them being fatal (Culbert, 2009)! In Calgary, there had only been seven shootings with only four of them being fatal by March (Culbert, 2009)! What’s going on here? There obviously needs to be some sort of change to put an end to this issue. After extensive occurrences of shooting and gang violence, I have come to the conclusion that the police forces in B.C could be doing a much better job on combating these issues. There needs to be more of a push towards tightening all gang activity. The public’s safety is at high risk, which should be the government’s number one priority. The Police need to step their game up or this gang problem will only escalate.  I also think that courts need not be letting these criminals back on the streets once the police have taken them off. Bail regulations need to be stiffer so that these criminals stay behind bars and not in the public where they can pose many risks. These gang members are getting smarter and their weapons are getting more powerful. I do not see that there will be an end to this problem unless the Government further steps in to diminish this problem. The reason why these issues concern me is because I’ve recently lost an innocent, dear relative to such events and have had two close friends fatally injured due to this violence. It is definitely time for a change. 

Works Cited

Culbert, L. (2009, March 6). Vancouver's Shooting Rate High for Canada. The Vancouver Sun .