SHOULD we name gangs? Police, corrections officials and educators in Winnipeg and across Canada have long held the belief that identifying gangs only gives them credibility.
Only in the courtroom do public officials -- prosecutors -- mention gang names, usually to tell a judge about the facts about a particular crime.
That's pretty much the only time the public learns about a particular gang. The other way is through word-of-mouth, like kids talking to parents. There's also gang graffiti tags, like "Central," which is spray-painted on garages and fences throughout the inner-city neighbourhood west of Princess Street to Isabel Street where the gang is active.
Does the policy on not naming gangs work?
Not if the experience in Winnipeg and the rest of the province over the past two decades is any indication.
Gangs like the Hells Angels, Zig Zag Crew, Manitoba Warriors, Indian Posse and Native Syndicate haven't gone anywhere. Over the years they've changed in membership and affiliation, but they've far from disappeared.
There are a number of other gangs, like Central, active in the city. The smaller ones don't really come and go; they just evolve into something else. For example, the Mad Cowz beget the African Mafia after the latter split from the Mad Cowz over an internal power struggle following the 2004 shooting death of 14-year-old gang member Sirak Okbazion by B-Side, a rival gang.
The most recent gang-related murder happened March 26 when two 15-year-old boys allegedly gunned down Thomas Roy Phillips on Magnus Avenue. One of the boys remains at large. Sources have said the boys are associated with a relatively new gang, Notorious.
Recently, public officials in Los Angeles reversed their policy on not naming gangs.
In a media event, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and police Chief William Bratton identified 11 of the most violent street gangs in the city in response to a sharp rise in gang-related violence.
"We've had that policy (non-disclosure) in effect for three or four decades, and we are the gang capital of the United States of America," Villaraigosa said in announcing more police resources to target gangs.
It's estimated Los Angeles has some 400 gangs with about 39,000 members.
In Manitoba, police have identified 25 street gangs and estimate there are about 1,500 members and associates, doubling what it was a decade ago, according to police and the Criminal Intelligence Service of Canada 2006 Annual Report On Organized Crime In Canada.
-- Bruce Owen
PREVIOUS
