Today, Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General Mike Morris joined Surrey Mayor Linda Hepner and RCMP officials to send a strong message to the perpetrators of gun violence in Surrey that the full force of the law is against them.

RCMP and the mayor underlined new and additional resources that are being drawn upon from the region – and include:

• RCMP now have the authority to have direct 24 hour access to the city’s network of over 330 traffic cameras in their efforts to gather evidence against those involved in these incidents.
• Mayor has asked for an additional 75 traffic cameras to be installed around the city and those too will be made available to the RCMP when they come on stream.
• Increased CFSEU investigative team members
• Increased End Gang Life campaign
• Increased air support
• RCMP major crime investigative members have been seconded to the Surrey Detachment
• Increased visible presence through deployment of ERT and specific tactical ops exclusive to the City of Surrey
• Resources from Lower Mainland Canine Units

In order to protect the integrity of the operations – officials are not providing further specifics.

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These resources are in addition to those already being employed through the guns and gangs strategy – and include the following:

Current provincial investment in anti-gang programming is as follows:

• $60M a year for the anti-gang unit (Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit – CFSEU-BC)
• Since 2006, the Province has provided more than $26 million in Civil Forfeiture grants for programs aimed at youth in gangs, domestic violence, crime prevention and other community-based programs – including over $5.5 million specifically targeted to support gang and youth crime prevention projects and programs.
• $7.2M in CFO grants this year supporting 250 programs 
• $2M of this year’s grants went directly to gang and youth crime prevention
• $293,500 - Surrey(WRAP) Program

Anti-gang programs that are targeted specifically at youth include:

• “End Gang Life,” a provincewide CFSEU-BC anti-gang prevention campaign aimed at ‘at-risk’ youth. End Gang Life consists of six short videos, six posters, and three radio PSA’s distributed to every media outlet in B.C., as well as every police agency, RCMP detachment, community groups, schools, throughout the province.
• WRAP is a partnership between the Surrey School District, Surrey RCMP and the City of Surrey, which helps to keep at-risk youth out of the gang and criminal lifestyle. The WRAP program is one of Canada’s leading youth gang intervention programs and currently serves 60 youth.

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Quotes:

Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General Mike Morris –

“Gun violence in our communities is unacceptable and must be stopped. We are ensuring the full force of our resources are aimed at these individuals and will work around the clock to get them behind bars.”

Mayor of Surrey Linda Hepner –

“As we have seen by the arrests and weapons seizures, the substantial work and resources deployed on this file are producing results. From a city standpoint we will continue to do everything we can to assist the RCMP in their investigation such as providing access to our comprehensive network of traffic cameras for evidence gathering. Our work with the Province and the RCMP are producing results and we will continue to work together to combat gun violence from all angles.”

Assistant commissioner Surrey RCMP, W.C. (Bill) Fordy –

“We have police officers with specialized skills and substantial experience working on these matters and we are receiving significant co-operation from the public. Together with our partners we disrupted the drug groups last year, and I am confident that we will do it again this year.”

Assistant commissioner Lower Mainland District Regional Police Service Dan Malo –

“While the recent gun violence has taken place in Surrey, the RCMP and our law enforcement partners recognize that this is a regional issue based on the illicit drug trade. We have implemented a regional strategy to address this violence and its underlying causes to ensure that those responsible are caught and held responsible, no matter where they live.”

Quick Facts:

• As of April 7, 9 individuals have been arrested related to the current violence in Surrey.
• On March 16, RCMP seized over $4.5 million in drugs.
• In 2015, over 6,200 persons checked, 800+ arrests and detentions made and more than 170 weapons and firearms were seized.
• Since 2006 – CFO has forfeited over $63M
• 3,300 cases referred by police since program’s inception.
• CFO has acted on over 2,800 cases (almost 85%)
• In 2015–- 155 cars seized in Surrey