Increasing number of women joining Lower Mainland gangs

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – People often assume those involved in gang life on the Lower Mainland are men, but that’s not true. There are an increasing number of women who are also associated with the lifestyle.

It’s been happening for years. Young girls being lured into gang life or they’re being recruited to be involved in day-to-day operations like selling drugs.”There is a long list of young women who have tragically lost their lives due to gang violence here in the Lower Mainland and in BC,” says Staff Sergeant Lindsey Houghton with the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit of BC.

He says more and more women are being targeted and any code of not going after them or civilians — no longer exists. “Not everyone shares that code. In fact, I would argue that most people don’t nowadays in the gang lifestyle. It’s every man and person for themselves and we saw in the Bacon murder in August of 2011 in Kelowna, there were two young women in the backseat and they were targeted and shot several times.”

Houghton notes they’re making a consistent effort to educate women, including young teens, to ensure they make the right choice.

“We do see frequently young women being attracted to this lifestyle, attracted to the men who are involved in this lifestyle and that’s why we’ve made a concerted effort through our ‘End Gang Life Initiative’ to reach out to women and engage them. And that includes young women — teenagers — who are involved in school activities, before they reach that age where they may be going out to the clubs and actually reaching out to young women who are involved with gang members.”

He adds the women involved in the lifestyle are killed mostly because of who they’re associated with and because they know too much.

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