The Province, anti-gang units and local police continue to make progress with work underway on B.C.’s $23-million expanded Guns and Gangs Strategy.

ACTIONS COMPLETED SINCE THE LAST UPDATE PROVIDED ON OCT. 6, 2016 INCLUDE:

• Completion of a provincewide Firearms Amnesty that ran between Oct. 1-31, 2016 – results of the amnesty will be shared mid-November.  
• Two new fully operational 10-person gang disruption and interdiction teams within the Combined Special Forces Unit – British Columbia (CFSEU-BC).  

Cross government and community events completed since Oct. 6 that support the Guns and Gangs Strategy include:

• Launch of a $1M End Gang Life Gang Exit Pilot Program to support adult gang members looking for a way out of gang life: https://news.gov.bc.ca/12674
• Release of a new City of Surrey Public Safety Strategy: http://www.surrey.ca/community/19149.aspx 

Significant local enforcement announcements between Oct. 6 and Nov. 2, 2016:

• Vancouver Island RCMP make significant fentanyl bust: http://nanaimo.bc.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/ViewPage.action?siteNodeId=876&languageId=1&contentId=48577
• Man in custody after search warrant nets drugs and weapons: https://vicpd.ca/node/1194
• IHIT charges 27 year-old man in connection with targeted homicide: http://globalnews.ca/news/3006654/rcmp-respond-to-homicide-in-langley/
• Burnaby RCMP investigate shooting believed to be targeted: http://burnaby.bc.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/ViewPage.action?siteNodeId=2114&languageId=1&contentId=48684
• Parolee facing charges after drug seizure: http://princegeorge.bc.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/ViewPage.action?siteNodeId=2113&languageId=1&contentId=48214
• Delta police investigate non-fatal shooting: http://deltapolice.ca/media-releases/2016/10/delta-police-investigate-non-fatal-shooting/

Recent and ongoing local efforts to engage and inform parents and community members:

• End Gang Life school presentations by CFSEU-BC approximately every two weeks. To date, 50 presentations reaching more than 17,000 students, including every middle- and high-school student in Kelowna and Nanaimo. cfseu.bc.ca/end-gang-life/
• The Surrey Wrap Around Safe Schools Program in partnership with the Surrey School District, Surrey RCMP and the City of Surrey to help keep at-risk youth out of the gang and criminal lifestyle ­ approximately 100 B.C. youths participating. http://surrey.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/ViewPage.action?siteNodeId=73&languageId=1&contentId=8915

ADDITONAL GUNS AND GANGS STRATEGY ACTIONS ONGOING AND UNDERWAY:

• Staffing a new Office of Crime Reduction and Gang Outreach.
• Surrey Crown counsel’s work to dedicate two full-time prosecutors and a paralegal to prioritizing cases linked to guns and gangs.
• The development of the Crime Stoppers initiative focused on firearms.

Additional resources:

• Youth & Gangs - A Parents Resource booklets available in English, Vietnamese, Punjabi, Tagalog, Somali, Arabic, Chinese, Korean and Spanish - soon to be available in Farsi and Hindi. cfseu.bc.ca/end-gang-life/end-gang-life-multilingual-booklets/
• The Surrey RCMP Parent Helpline at 604 599-7800 is available to parents who are concerned about their children becoming involved in illegal activities. http://surrey.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/ViewPage.action?siteNodeId=1484&languageId=1&contentId=46508