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 Vancouver cops to attend Angels' bash |
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| Vancouver cops to attend Angels' bash |
   
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Kelly Sinoski, Canwest News Service
Published: Thursday, July 10, 2008
When the Hells Angels holds its 25th anniversary bash later this month, uniformed officers of the Metro Vancouver police are planning to join the party.
Officers from the RCMP and municipal police forces will attend the two-day event, set for July 25-26 at Hells Angels' clubhouse in Langley.
"We're going to make a special effort to participate as heavily as we can in that," Vancouver Police Insp. Dean Robinson said Wednesday. "We're keenly aware of all the things we can leverage in our favour."
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The White Rock chapter of the Hells Angels, which is based out of Langley, is host of the party for the Vancouver, Nanaimo and White Rock chapters.
Hells Angels representative Rick Ciarniello would not comment on the plans for the bash or how people plan to attend.
"It's just a private party," he said, adding: "We're not anticipating on there being any problems."
At least 200 Hells Angels and associates are expected to attend the party at the clubhouse, located at 21764 61st Ave., Langley RCMP Cpl. Peter Thiessen said.
He wouldn't disclose how many officers would be attending the bash, but said police have developed a strategy to deal with any problems.
Resources are being drawn from around Metro Vancouver to ensure there is no cost to the front-line policing in the various regions, he added.
"We're in a position to deal with any issues that might come up with the Hells Angels event," Thiessen said. "We're basically taking the Hells Angels' lead; it's up to them as to how this is going to go."
City officials for both the city of Langley and Langley Township say they don't expect any major problems.
"We're hopeful they'll be respectful of the neighbourhood," said Francis Cheung, chief administrative officer for the city of Langley.
Jack Arnold, acting mayor of the city of Langley, said the police will be ready to deal with any emergencies.
"Traditionally when they hold something like this, they go out of their way to behave themselves," he said. "We're hoping there aren't any problems but we have enough resources on hand to deal with any problems."
Among those officers attending the event will be members of the special uniformed gang task force, which was started last November to combat gang violence in Metro Vancouver.
Robinson said since it began eight months ago, the "unified" task force has been cruising the known hangouts of criminals, including bars, restaurants, community centres and gyms and has increased patrols to rodeos, concerts and beaches.
"It takes the cloak of invisibility off these gangsters. They used to roam around unnoticed in the regions," Robinson said. "We're undressing them with this intelligence feature."
The patrols, which used to be done only at night, have now increased to day and night seven days a week.
Since November, the task force has laid 72 criminal charges in connection with firearms, weapons and assault offences and seized $90,000 in cash believed to be proceeds of crime, Robinson said. Eleven pounds of marijuana and a kilogram of cocaine were also seized.
"We've been working day and night seven days a week. We're focusing on any area or venue where we think we can find these people," Robinson said.
The number of incidents of shots fired in Vancouver has plummeted from 25 in the first six months of 2007 to just one this year.
That does not include cases where victims were hit by bullets, just drive-bys and other incidents where guns were discharged, but did not hit anyone.
As part of the program, police have pulled over thousands of gangsters, seized their guns and charged them with a number of offences.
http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolon...c1-d24eca4765ae
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10.07.2008 07:58 |
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