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March 19, 2013 Vol. 28 • No. 23 ••• $1.25 inc. H.S.T.
A Scottish singer with a “truly stunning voice” performs this week at the Cumberland Hotel. page 10
Repelling the Nanaimo Buccaneers in a semifinal, the Comox Valley Glacier Kings advance against Victoria. page 13
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OUT OF SIGHT... City of Courtenay workers dragged a derelict boat out of the Courtenay River on Monday. The vessel had been resting on its side near the boat ramp at the airpark. The City acted because the matter was neither the jurisdiction of federal Fisheries and Oceans nor the provincial Transportation Ministry. Wills Marine Supply and Bowline Boat Moving assisted. The boat, which was taken to City property, might eventually be returned to the owner. PHOTO BY SCOTT STANFIELD
Gang‘tentacles’ everywhere, including our Valley Expert speaks to youth at Comox Valley Mountie camp Erin Haluschak Record Staff
Fuelled by greed and money, the tentacles of gangs and organized crime is everywhere in the province, including the Comox Valley, says Sgt. Lindsey Houghton. Although it may not be a highly visible problem in some communities, Houghton said no community in B.C. is immune. “Violence precipitates down ... where money can be made from drugs, where that can be done, it will be done,” he added. Houghton is a spokesperson for the Combined Forces Special
Enforcement Unit (CFSEU) - B.C. (the issue) and get down to the in the Comox Valley,” he said, and — the province’s anti-gang agen- facts,” he noted. “It sounds cli- added drugs and its relation to cy — an integrated joint forces chéd, but (the kids) are our future organized crime is not just a bigoperation to target, investigate, police officers, educators, journal- city problem. In June 2010, officers executprosecute, disrupt and dismantle ists and businesspeople.” CFSEU works with various ed three search warrants, two in the organized crime groups and the Comox Valley and individuals that pose one in Nanaimo. Seithe highest risk to It’s important to demystify (the issue) and zures included a large public safety due to get down to the facts. It sounds clichéd, but amount of drugs, cash gang violence. and 30 firearms. The approach (the kids) are our future police officers, educa“The Comox Valenhances inforley is an idyllic place; mation sharing, tors, journalists and businesspeople. co-ordination and Lindsey Houghton people come here for recreation and for the deployment against threats of violence posed by orga- police and RCMP detachments, gateway to Mount Washington. A nized crime groups and gangs in and Houghton explained the unit lot of people don’t realize there is worked closely with the Comox still a presence of organized crime the province. Houghton spent the weekend in Valley RCMP in the fall of 2011 and drugs,” noted Houghton. He said the sharing of inforthe Comox Valley talking to kids for the joint project E-Pigmenmation and intelligence between attending the RCMP Youth Camp tation. “A couple of people were arrest- various law enforcements in the about gangs and the general gang environment, and to dispel any ed on drug and weapon-related province, including the Canada offences. At the time, it was a Border Services Agency, has never myths about the issue. “It’s important to demystify large bust of heroin and cocaine been greater.
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“There’s monumental changes in the mindset and willingness to share information in real time. It really helps with various police agencies, even across Canada.” Houghton said gangs and their members are travelling, not bound by municipal or provincial boundaries, always in pursuit of money. “It’s the driving factor.” Looking at the statistics, Houghton explained that generally the number of gang-motivated homicides has fallen since its peak in 2006, and there are an estimated 188 gangs and organized crime units in B.C. “It has stayed pretty steady in the last five to 10 years. It is significant who has been arrested,” he noted. “We have taken highprofile and extremely violent offenders off the streets.” photos@comoxvalleyrecord.com
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