Gangs on the move

By Scott Neufeld - North Shore Outlook - June 05, 2008

A new West Van program to boot gangsters out of local watering holes may send more gangsters into neighbouring communities, according to a Vancouver gang expert. Operation Safeguard, which allows the police to remove known gangsters from participating licensed establishments, is another example of the “wack-a-mole” approach to fighting gang activity in Vancouver, says Rob Gordon, a criminologist at Simon Fraser University. “A problem that is undertaken in one (community) is going to have an adverse effect in another community because people will move,” Gordon said. “What is needed is a co-ordinated strategy for dealing with organized crime that is Metro Vancouver wide.” At a news conference last week, the West Vancouver police unveiled Operation Safeguard and acknowledged that the program was modelled after Vancouver’s Barwatch program. “Our regular patrol members were noticing known gang associates were being seen in restaurants and clubs on the North Shore,” said Const. Jeff Palmer of the community services unit. “This (operation) is a proactive response to that.”

Const. Todd Mosher admitted that some gang members are being pushed to the North Shore from other communities. He added that all licensed establishments in West Vancouver need to sign on to make the operation effective. “There has been a little disbursement so we’re getting prepared,” he said. “That’s why everyone’s encouraged to join the program.” In the seven months since Safeguard began, roughly 20 people have been tossed from the seven restaurants and lounges participating in the program. Gang members are identified through a police database check. If they’re eating at a licensed establishment that’s part of the voluntary program, the police will escort them out of the restaurant. “In the past there was a legal issue where if there was a gang member in the bar you had to have one of the (managers) get involved,” said Dave Kershaw, part-owner of the Ocean Club which has signed up for the program. “I think (the operation) really removes that part of it.”

Programs such as Safeguard and Barwatch serve only narrow local interests, Gordon said. The result of such programs is that gangs move to another community where they will be left alone. “That’s not to say it won’t be effective ... it’s purely in parochial terms that its effective,” Gordon said. “(The programs) don’t actually disrupt, they just push (gangsters) to other bars in Metro Vancouver.”Some gang members head to licensed restaurants to do business but Gordon said many are just looking to enjoy a night out on the town.