The sight of police tape is becoming a little too familiar in 91原创.

The ongoing gang wars have littered 91原创, and our neighbouring communities, with bodies and burning cars.

The latest shooting near 201A Street and 56th Avenue was just a short stroll from City Hall.

We don鈥檛 know yet if it factors into some tit-for-tat attack between rival gangs, but the victim appears to be, as we are constantly told, 鈥渒nown to police.鈥�

There are two main reasons why the gang wars that first flared more than a decade ago have repeatedly erupted into fresh flames.

First, our police agencies have had a great deal of difficulty coming to grips with the nature of gangland violence.

A conspiracy of silence and a steady supply of new young foot soldiers for an ever-changing cast of gangs has made it difficult to investigate.

At this point, we need to ask if our key agencies, especially IHIT and the CFSEU, have the right resources to tackle this problem. That鈥檚 a question for the politicians and senior police officers who hold the purse strings.

Second, we鈥檝e just started to take the violence for granted.

It鈥檚 easy to overlook the plague of shootings if they don鈥檛 hit 鈥渃ivilians,鈥� people outside the realm of gangs and drugs.

But the violence does ensnare innocent people. Multiple bystanders have died or been injured in the shootings. Beyond that, it鈥檚 notable that many of the younger recent shooting victims were 10- to 15-years-old when the gang wars first flared up. If we鈥檇 suppressed the gangs effectively then, they might never have become cannon fodder in the ongoing war.

Whether it鈥檚 drug decriminalization or nabbing gangsters for tax evasion, we need alternate methods of ending the gang war that just won鈥檛 stop.

鈥� M.C.