Will new RCMP officers make a difference in Surrey?

SURREY (NEWS 1130) – After two shootings in as many days in Surrey following the deployment of twenty more RCMP officers, there are questions about how much of a difference those officers will make.

An author and speaker on gang life isn’t very confident.

It’s nice to think we will see a difference, but unless there is an officer on every block in Surrey, the shootings will continue, says Ranj Dhaliwal.

“The police officers, they don’t know when they’re sitting in their cruisers, that somebody is cruising around in their vehicles, ready to shoot somebody, that there’s a hit out, or anything like that. The only thing we can hope for is a reduced response time, so when the police are called, after a shooting has occurred, then maybe, just maybe they might be able to prevent another shooting down the road by capturing those individuals.”

Dhaliwal says education before someone gets involved in criminal activity is the key.

“I really think that that’s the only thing we can do. There’s no way that anybody can predict for example, if there’s a house party and two rival groups, they get into it there, we don’t know what’s going to happen there, if they’re going to go out and get their guns, so you can’t stop something like that unless we hire some psychics or something,” he explains.

“Other than that, the only thing we can do is educate these kids before they get into that lifestyle…..once they’re in that lifestyle, it’s up to them to change their course through legal means or wherever to get out of that lifestyle, but there’s not much that can really be done after they’ve already gotten into that lifestyle.”

Shots were fired in the area of 152nd Street and 57th Avenue late Friday night. There was gunfire between two cars on Highway 10 near 186th on Saturday night.

Mounties say they don’t yet know whether these shootings are linked to the others that have been identified as part of a low level drug trade turf war.

Twenty new officers were deployed in Surrey last week; the first of a group of 100.

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