TORONTO NEEDS COPS, NOT SOCIAL WORKERS

Earlier this year, the Ontario justice system sent its first case to
court in a crackdown on gun-and-gang crime. Toronto resident Jermaine
Grant, 22, was charged with carrying a loaded .45-calibre handgun. He
had been picked up in the summer of 2004, just two years after his
previous conviction for illegal handgun possession.

In its case against Grant, the Ontario Crown introduced special
"expert" evidence purporting to show that he was a member of a street
gang. As Quebec successfully did in the 1990s, when it was faced with
the biker gang war over illegal drugs, Ontario wanted the courts to
take membership in an organized criminal gang into account upon sentencing .

Ontario Justice Ian Nordheimer was not impressed. He ruled in October
that testimony on Grant's "likely" being a member of the Crips street
gang was unusable hearsay. Nordheimer did, however, impose an
eight-year sentence. The maximum for illegal handgun possession is 10
years. In sentencing Grant, Nordheimer said, "If Mr. Grant does not
qualify as the worst offender, he comes very close to it."

That was a good start, but Toronto has a long way to go as it
prepares to bury the latest victim of gun violence in the city. On
Boxing Day, a 15-year-old girl died, one of 15 people hit in a
shootout in the heart of Toronto's shopping district. She was the
52nd gunshot fatality in Toronto this year.

On Dec. 8, Prime Minister Paul Martin proposed to open the way for
provinces to ban handguns, along with a new 250-officer RCMP unit to
tackle gun-related crimes, along with organized crime and drug
trafficking. Tougher sentences for gun-related crime, including
doubling the maximum to 20 years; increased border searches; and a
$50-million fund to be directed at helping youngsters deemed at risk
of becoming criminals are included in the proposed law.

Three weeks and a dead 15-year-old later, Conservative leader Stephen
Harper correctly pointed out that a ban on handguns is not the
answer. A virtual ban exists already. Enforcement of the laws on the
books will produce results.

Killing in broad daylight in a crowded shopping district is primarily
a problem of law enforcement, not an issue for social workers or a
matter to be solved by cross-border co-operation on the gun trade.
Stiffen sentences attached to using a handgun and criminals will
hesitate to use them.

It is possible to persuade the courts that gangs are organized crime
operations. Quebec did it with the biker gangs. The province's
anti-gang squad collected evidence on both crimes and organized
criminal operations the old-fashioned way: by surveillance, wiretaps
and dogged investigation. There are no shortcuts to success.

Toronto's street gangs will be dismantled by the same hard slogging.
This kind of work requires sufficient manpower and resources. It
needs the co-operation of the communities from which the criminals
come. Police complain that these communities don't co-operate, but
trust has to be earned. Once police show they are sincere about
prosecuting criminals even-handedly, whoever they are, they will gain
the trust of these communities.