Gun violence connected to drug trade isn’t just happening in Surrey: police
Posted April 10, 2016 8:50 am.
Last Updated May 14, 2016 9:47 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
SURREY (NEWS 1130) – The rise in gun violence we’ve seen so far this year in Surrey is nothing investigators haven’t seen before but the province’s gang task unit is confident it will eventually stop.
Staff Sergeant Lindsey Houghton with the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit of BC feels they’ll fix the problem by working together — meaning, police, community leaders, academics and local, provincial and federal governments.
“We’ve seen ebbs and flows in terms of the number of young people that are involved, the types of violence, of course, depending on how successful we are in terms of the enforcement strategies then we’ll see drops in some of the crime types.”
He adds the low level drug war behind the recent uptick in violence south of the Fraser River isn’t isolated to Surrey – it’s happening across the province.
“It’s an ongoing issue in many communities, not just here in the Lower Mainland and certainly not just in Surrey. It’s a problem that affects every single community to some degree and this is something that’s been persistent.”
Houghton believes one of the reasons the violence is so pronounced in Surrey is because the city is growing so fast.
“When you have more people, you have a larger segment of that population involved in that type of activity and because these acts are so open and brazen and violent, they become more noticed.”
Some of those involved, he explains, are as young as 16 years old. “What we have are young people, and sometimes even teenagers, who get involved in this lifestyle — this unbelievably risky lifestyle — many of them don’t understand the risks that are involved. And not just the risks themselves, but the risk they’re putting their families, their neighbours and the general community at and it’s completely unacceptable.”
As for the guns being used, Houghton says they’re trying to figure out where they’re coming from.
To help curb this ongoing issue, last week the city announced it was granting the RCMP 24-hour access to every traffic camera. Surrey Mayor Linda Hepner also approved an additional 75 new cameras that, she promises, will be installed soon.
There have been more than 30 shootings so far this year.
