SURREY — B.C.'s anti-gang police indicate in their 2014 community report that gang violence is on the decline.
Kevin Hackett, Chief Officer of the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit (CFSEU-BC), reports there has been a "significant decline in crime statistics related to gang violence over the last year."
Hackett said that's a testament to the more than 400 officers in CFSEU-BC. In the past year, he noted, charges have been brought against 97 suspects allegedly involved in organized crimes or gangs, related to some 270 crimes in nearly 30 B.C. communities.
He noted one murder investigation, done jointly with the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team, resulted in eight guilty pleas from United Nations gang members and associates "who were ruthlessly hunting members of the Bacon Brothers crime group."
The 2014 community report also contained some statistics. Between January 2006 and March 2014, of 160 victims of gang-related homicides 74 were Caucasian, 34 South Asian, 33 Asian, 10 Middle Eastern, six were First Nations and three were Hispanic.
Of them, 49 of the victims’ bodies were found inside a vehicle, 32 inside a residence, 24 outside or near a residence, 10 in or near a business or restaurant, and six bodies were found outside or near a vehicle. Twenty-eight victims were found in other locations, three were found in a parking lot and it's unknown where seven bodies are.
In 2013 in B.C. there were 76 homicides, 13 gang homicides, 90 attempted homicides and 11 attempted homicides that were gang-related.
Gang-related homicides tend to peak in January and ebb in June.
tzytaruk@thenownewspaper.com