Escalating Lower Mainland gang violence prompts calls for more police resources, better drug policy

Advocates are calling for both policy and funding changes in the wake of a spate of violent public shootings in the Lower Mainland in recent months.

Two approaches, one calling for increased police presence and another calling for decriminalization of all drugs, have been proposed. 

The National Police Federation (NPF), which represents about 20,000 RCMP officers across Canada, wants increased funding for anti-gang investigations. 

"Integrated units depend on that funding to investigate these crimes," said NPF Pacific Region Director Trevor Dinwoodie. 

"What we need to do is stop the public executions that are happening right now because it's only going to take a matter of time for a stray bullet to hit somebody," he added.

"We need to shut that down and that means more cops in cars."

Erin Osterberg, an assistant professor in the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of the Fraser Valley, focuses her research on police response to gang violence.

She said the key to ending gang violence in the region is cracking down on importation of drugs. 

"In the late '90s, all the funding for ports police was decimated, and so at our major seaports, we don't have a police presence," she told On the Coast host Gloria Macarenko. 

"That's really problematic as far as the ability to import commercial quantities of the drugs that are essentially fuelling all of this violence."

Cheyenne Johnson, the executive director  of the B.C. Centre on Substance Use, agrees that the drug trade is fuelling gang violence in both B.C., and the country. 

"It's been well documented in the scientific literature that gang violence is sort of just a natural consequence of substance use prohibition," Johnson said.

She said policymakers need to be made more aware of the link between organized crime and drug overdose and look at at regulations for substances.

"We need to take a better sort of public health-oriented approach to drug policy in Canada, where we can maximize the health benefits to people who use substances and minimize some of the social problems and concerns that we see  relating to gang violence in terms of money laundering."

"Regulation is the solution to protect public safety and to move away from organized crime."

Surrey Police Service recruiting active members: NPF

The NPF also wants the Surrey Police Service, which is not yet active, to stop recruiting active police officers from other forces thereby taking experienced, active police officers off the streets to assume administrative roles with a police force that is not up and running.

Dinwoodie said he's witnessed this first-hand; he said he has a number of friends that are considering joining the Surrey Police Service.

"Now is not the time to be removing scarce resources from active service in the Lower Mainland," NPF president Brian Sauvé said. 

Public Safety minister Mike Farnworth said police staffing isn't an issue in B.C., and that new recruits come to the Lower Mainland from the RCMP depot in Regina and from the Justice Institute of B.C. each year. But Dinwoodie said the number of recruits coming from those places doesn't keep up with attrition rates. 

"I worked in Surrey for nearly two decades, I can tell you we were very under-resourced at that," he said.

Click here to listen to Trevor Dinwoodie's interview on CBC's On the Coast:

Risk to the public

Shootings as of late have been unusually public; at the Vancouver International Airport, outside of a mall and in front of a sportsplex, to name a few. 

Osterberg said COVID-19 has forced restaurants and bars to close, which is historically where these shootings would have happened. 

The increased violence is something we've seen before in the Lower Mainland. Osterberg said that from 2007 to 2009, there was a significant increase in gang violence, including public shootings, similar to what's happening now. 

In April, Manny Mann, head of the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit of B.C. said the increasing violence is related to a gang war dating back 15 years between the groups known as the Red Scorpions, Independent Soldiers and Wolf Pack against the United Nations, but that new players in the gang community are also driving violence.

Despite this, Osterberg said there's no evidence to suggest that residents are unsafe going about their day-to-day activities. 

"Statistically, we live in very safe communities with low levels of violence," she said.

"I just encourage everyone to remain vigilant, you know, keep your eyes open, keep your head up, keep looking around."

To hear Erin Osterberg's interview on CBC's On the Coast, click here: