COVID-19 may be factor in public gang violence

An expert on gangs says the very public nature of a recent series of shootings in Metro Vancouver may be attributed to COVID-19 restrictions, with rivals striking at the first chance they get.

Martin Bouchard, a professor in Simon Fraser University's school of criminology, says the pandemic has changed people's routines and they aren't getting out of their homes often, which could play a role in the brazen nature of shootings.

He says gang violence follows its own course regardless of what the initial motive was for the conflict.

The comments come as police leaders meet today with Solicitor General Mike Farnworth about the shootings that have left gang members dead or injured on streets, in mall parking lots and at Vancouver's airport.

Farnworth says he expects to get an assessment of the situation from police leaders and determine what additional steps, if any, are required.

Supt. Dave Chauhan, officer in charge of the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team, says there could be many reasons for the conflict, including personal vendettas or drugs and territorial disputes.

He says the police are seeing more young people forming gangs and that there are splinter groups from those leading to multiple gangs.

Premier John Horgan said this week the government wants to make sure that they're "focused like a laser" on addressing criminality.

"The first order of business of course is to stop the flow of young people into the gang lifestyle," he saidTuesday.

"But clearly the brazen nature of the violence we've seen over the past two weeks requires law enforcement intervention."

Bouchard says he's confident police have a good handle on the situation.

"And they know that as the age of the victims gets younger, they need to innovate in terms of their ability to get inside (the gangs)."

This means that informants need to be younger and the police also have to have experts who can find information online.

"And my sense is that the analysts and sometimes civilians working for law enforcement are getting better and better at finding information on these people online through open source intelligence methods," Bouchard says.

He says these gang conflicts tend to go in cycles and once they start, they take on a life of their own.

"Sometimes these start based on perception of disrespect between two people," he says.

"It could be, you know, a romantic relationship gone wrong. Regardless of the initial motive, we are in a cycle of retaliation. It will follow its course to its — hopefully — conclusion very soon."