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IN OUR VIEW: Will IGHT succeed?

New team may help tackle murder rate, but not the only option
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Police and IHIT are at a 91Ô­´´ homicide scene in 2022. (91Ô­´´ Advance Times files)

Metro Vancouver has a lot of unsolved murders.

When the province announced the creation of a new gang-oriented homicide investigation unit, it candidly pointed out that there are currently 356 unsolved homicides on the books of the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team (IHIT).

A significant number of those are gang murders. Gang-related slayings have risen from 21 per cent of B.C. homicides in 2003 to 46 per cent by 2023.

Not surprising, as anyone who has seen the headlines, or driven past a taped-off crime scene or burnt-out getaway car, can attest. Regular British Columbians still rarely resort to lethal violence, but gangsters have embraced it with gusto.

This is why the Ministry of Public Safety created IGHT, the Integrated Gang Homicide Team. A sub-set of IHIT, it will be getting some new investigators and staff, as well as some shuffled over from the BC Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit (CFSEU) – an anti-gang investigation squad.

The big question is, will it work? Will shuffling roles and adding some new officers help police bring more charges, more quickly, in either gang or non-gang homicides? Will families find out who killed their loved ones? Will people who are willing to kill be brought to justice?

It’s hard to say.

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One of the problems that Solicitor General Mike Farnworth and senior police officials have is a simple shortage of officers.

Whether it’s in local detachments or in specialized units, there are more vacancies than there should be. A unit can theoretically have 20 or 30 investigators, but once you take out those who have retired, gone on medical leave, or transferred out, the unit may be 10, 20, or even 50 per cent understaffed at times.

Beyond that, there’s a question of where to put those resources.

Solving murders will always be a priority. But can we prevent future murders? Can we cut the murder rate by breaking up gang activity in other ways?

That’s not necessarily a policing question. Social services, drug detox and intervention, and anti-gang lifestyle education programs can all reduce the key elements that lead to gang-related killings – drug customers, and new recruits.

We need some honest conversations with our leaders about how to best tackle our gangland killing problem in B.C.

– M.C.





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