Battleground
Toronto Sun ^ | 2003-11-26 | Rob Granastein
Toronto the Good has transformed into Toronto the Bloody. Our streets resemble a shooting gallery, with gunfire piercing the air all over town, not just in the city's well-known crime corridors, each and every day.
With so much gunplay in the city, our cops are having trouble keeping up. Resources are stretched to the limit in a fight police admit they're not winning, but struggling to prevent from blowing up completely.
"We're busy," said Det-Sgt. Gary Keys with an uncomfortable chuckle. "Our whole police service is focused on guns and getting them off the street.
"Gun violence isn't totally out of control, but it's a major concern for us," said Keys, who heads up Toronto Police's guns and gangs task force.
This month has been especially bloody with 10 murders already. While we haven't had another "Bloody Sunday" like last November, when four people were murdered and five were injured in 90 minutes, the trouble on our streets are getting worse not better.
"There are just more guns available on the street," Keys said. "And they're in the hands of more bad guys."
Gangs, rivalries, drugs and territorial showdowns are all contributing to the spate of shootings, Keys said.
"Some times they are spur-of-the-moment things between two people, where one of them happens to be armed," Keys said. "In the past they'd punch it out, now someone's carrying a gun and they decide to use it."
Det. Chuck Vanderheyden agreed that people are responding to incidents with an escalating amount of violence.
"Our society is becoming more frightened and overreacting more than in the past," said Vanderheyden, who was busy investigating a shooting at a school in Scarborough Monday.
And gunmen are opening fire all over the city.
"Pretty well any spot in the city has had problems," he said.
"A lot of the shootings are not people being randomly gunned down on the street," Keys said. "There is the odd exception where people get caught in the crossfire, but a lot of the violence you're seeing is between gangs or gang members or between drug dealers.
"It's not random acts of violence. They're being targeted," Keys said. "The general public is unlikely to run into this unless you're caught in the wrong place at the wrong time."
That's what happened to Derek Wah Yan, 40. On Nov. 1 he was struck by a bullet that pierced the side of his Scarborough townhouse while he and his son watched TV.
Police believe gunmen may have been driving around the suburb shooting at cars and houses when they hit Yan.
The guns are coming from a number of different sources. About half of Toronto's firearms are being smuggled in from the U.S. Most of the rest are stolen from local homes.
Shotguns are being sawed off and used on the street, Keys said. Some guns are coming from Quebec, too.
To combat the guns on the street, Toronto Police have added a street violence task force to the existing guns and gangs task force. The new team has taken officers from police stations across the city to combat gun crime. They're relying on intelligence information to target potential troublemakers.
In the eight weeks since its inception, the street violence task force has seized 73 guns and made 206 arrests of violent people connected to gangs or have a history of violent behaviour, Keys said.
Keys echoed Chief Julian Fantino's words, saying police can't stop the shootings alone. The community must help, telling the cops about anyone who is armed or part of a gang.
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Yet another Liberal gun control success story...
Toronto Sun ^ | 2003-11-26 | Rob Granastein
Toronto the Good has transformed into Toronto the Bloody. Our streets resemble a shooting gallery, with gunfire piercing the air all over town, not just in the city's well-known crime corridors, each and every day.
With so much gunplay in the city, our cops are having trouble keeping up. Resources are stretched to the limit in a fight police admit they're not winning, but struggling to prevent from blowing up completely.
"We're busy," said Det-Sgt. Gary Keys with an uncomfortable chuckle. "Our whole police service is focused on guns and getting them off the street.
"Gun violence isn't totally out of control, but it's a major concern for us," said Keys, who heads up Toronto Police's guns and gangs task force.
This month has been especially bloody with 10 murders already. While we haven't had another "Bloody Sunday" like last November, when four people were murdered and five were injured in 90 minutes, the trouble on our streets are getting worse not better.
"There are just more guns available on the street," Keys said. "And they're in the hands of more bad guys."
Gangs, rivalries, drugs and territorial showdowns are all contributing to the spate of shootings, Keys said.
"Some times they are spur-of-the-moment things between two people, where one of them happens to be armed," Keys said. "In the past they'd punch it out, now someone's carrying a gun and they decide to use it."
Det. Chuck Vanderheyden agreed that people are responding to incidents with an escalating amount of violence.
"Our society is becoming more frightened and overreacting more than in the past," said Vanderheyden, who was busy investigating a shooting at a school in Scarborough Monday.
And gunmen are opening fire all over the city.
"Pretty well any spot in the city has had problems," he said.
"A lot of the shootings are not people being randomly gunned down on the street," Keys said. "There is the odd exception where people get caught in the crossfire, but a lot of the violence you're seeing is between gangs or gang members or between drug dealers.
"It's not random acts of violence. They're being targeted," Keys said. "The general public is unlikely to run into this unless you're caught in the wrong place at the wrong time."
That's what happened to Derek Wah Yan, 40. On Nov. 1 he was struck by a bullet that pierced the side of his Scarborough townhouse while he and his son watched TV.
Police believe gunmen may have been driving around the suburb shooting at cars and houses when they hit Yan.
The guns are coming from a number of different sources. About half of Toronto's firearms are being smuggled in from the U.S. Most of the rest are stolen from local homes.
Shotguns are being sawed off and used on the street, Keys said. Some guns are coming from Quebec, too.
To combat the guns on the street, Toronto Police have added a street violence task force to the existing guns and gangs task force. The new team has taken officers from police stations across the city to combat gun crime. They're relying on intelligence information to target potential troublemakers.
In the eight weeks since its inception, the street violence task force has seized 73 guns and made 206 arrests of violent people connected to gangs or have a history of violent behaviour, Keys said.
Keys echoed Chief Julian Fantino's words, saying police can't stop the shootings alone. The community must help, telling the cops about anyone who is armed or part of a gang.
=================================
Yet another Liberal gun control success story...
