SASKATOON – A gang prevention strategy launched by Saskatoon Police aims to cut violent crimes committed by outlaw motorcycle and street gangs in Saskatoon, but STR8 UP says there needs to be a community-based approach to gang activity and violence.
The Saskatoon Police Service's new Drop Gangs program is designed as a preventative approach to combat criminal gang activity.
“This is not an initiative we are involved with,” said Stan Tu’Inukuafe, co-founder of STR8 UP, a non-profit Saskatoon-based group that helps gang members leave the lifestyle. “There are ways to work with the police but I’m not sure this is the way.”
Tu’Inukuafe said groups need to work together to address gang violence and the community should choose the group.
"We believe that it should be the community that decides who should be involved. Police have a part in addressing the problem but they shouldn't be the lead. The community should decide who leads initiatives."
Tu’Inukuafe pointed to a report by Dr. Robert Henry, an assistant sociology professor at the University of Calgary who was contracted to conduct research on developing a gang prevention/intervention strategy in Saskatchewan. Henry said communities want the police and corrections to be a part of the strategy, but not the focus of it.
“Communities consulted were emphatic that the focus of the provincial street gang strategy be on prevention and intervention, not suppression,” said Henry in the 2018 report, adding that gang members were apprehensive of RCMP, municipal police and the Department of Corrections and Policing.
Drop Gangs vehicle a rolling billboard
The $70,000 Drop Gangs vehicle is covered with illustrations that depict the negative consequences of gang involvement.
SPS said its Drop Gangs vehicle – that functions like a ‘rolling billboard’ - will be visible at community events, outlaw motorcycle gang events, as well as warrant executions where gangs, drugs, and organized crime are involved.
“Outlaw motorcycle gangs hold annual events such as rides and the annual tattoo expo,” Detective Sergeant Dave Larocque, Integrated Intelligence Unit for SPS told SASKTODAY.ca in an email Thursday. “Many of the motorcycle clubs that support them also hold events. The Drop Gangs vehicle will attend these events and try to ensure those participating know they may be supporting a criminal organization.
“The Drop Gangs vehicle will be present during search warrant executions where organized crime and street gangs are involved to bolster the message that there are consequences to being involved in criminality," said Larocque.
Tu’Inukuafe, however, said he had concerns with the SPS Drop Gangs vehicle assisting with the execution of search warrants due to the lack of trust gang members have with police and the justice system. He said this may be a potential conflict.
Larocque said that Drop Gangs is not recruiting gang members to leave gangs but encouraging those who are thinking about or have decided to leave the gang lifestyle.
"The programs to assist these people have been in existence for a number of years and Drop Gangs is only reaching further into the community to make it easier for those wishing to leave the gang lifestyle, access to community programming.”
Drop Gangs a tool
SPS said the Drop Gangs program is designed to act as a conduit to services provided in the community.
“Through the exposure of the Drop Gangs vehicle around the community and at strategic events and through the distribution of media, we hope to compel people to visit the Drop Gangs website. There are links to the services offered in the community to assist people in a number of different ways including a link to the Provincial Gang violence reduction strategy,” said Larocque.
Larocque added that the Drop Gangs website has information for parents and teachers that may assist them in recognizing someone in their care is involved in a street gang and facts versus myths about street gangs. He said the Drop Gangs website will be kept up-to-date with recent news articles and information regarding arrests and seizures involving OMG members and street gang members.
“We will post local, provincial and national information we feel is pertinent and informative to the audience of the Drop Gangs program. We also hope to be able to post some good news articles as well.”
The Drop Gangs website has links to community organizations that are offering services so it is possible for people to contact these organizations directly.
Anyone who contacts the Drop Gangs program through the website will be referred to the appropriate community service that may be able to assist them, said Larocque.
“The Saskatoon Police Service has been referring people to a number of these programs for some time. Once referred people are referred to these programs, the service does not interfere with the process the organizations offer to their clients. The Drop Gangs program is designed to increase the exposure to these services.”
Drop Gangs also has an educational component for anyone considering becoming involved in gangs and offers resources for those who want to exit the lifestyle.
“The Drop Gangs program offers the public information about outlaw motorcycle gangs (OMG) and street gangs,” said Larocque.
“In the case of OMGs, Drop Gangs provides information about how the public may inadvertently support OMGs, the criminal enterprises that may operate in their community, the detriment to the community caused by OMGs and the downside of belonging to an OMG or a support organization.”
Numbers of gang members in Saskatoon unknown
Larocque said the Saskatoon Integrated Intelligence Unit monitors the number of people involved in outlaw motorcycle gangs and motorcycle clubs that support them in Saskatoon.
“The Saskatoon (police) Guns and Gangs Unit monitors the number of people involved in street gangs in Saskatoon,” said Larocque. “These numbers are ever-changing, therefore, rarely reported. The intelligence community is continuously sharing information regarding trends for both OMGs and street gangs. The numbers often change and if taken out of context, may misrepresent the street gang picture in Saskatoon. We look to the Saskatoon Police Service Guns and Gangs Unit as well as the RCMP for up-to date statistics and information on Street Gangs.”
Drop Gangs funded through seizure of criminal property
The Drop Gangs program and vehicle are funded by the province’s civil forfeiture fund through The Seizure of Criminal Property Act, 2009.
“We could use those dollars,” said Tu’Inukuafe, adding that STR8 UP doesn’t have enough resources to deal with extra referrals.
Henry’s report called on the Saskatchewan government to provide “essential, timely, and adequate funding” to organizations outside of policing and corrections.
Likewise, in its 2020 report on intervention models, the U of S’s Centre for Forensic Behavioural Science and Justice Studies report said there is a consensus that the most logical entity to be the community-based champion of a gang strategy is STR8 UP.
In December 2019, the Government of Saskatchewan announced its Gang Violence Reduction Strategy for four years. They selected STR8 UP and Regina Treaty Status Indian Services as the agencies to run the intervention program to deliver outreach, intervention and prevention services to help people leave gangs and reintegrate back into their communities.
The community intervention model is one part of Saskatchewan’s five-pillar gang violence reduction strategy and the province has contracted the U of S Centre for Forensic Behavioural Science and Justice Studies to evaluate the strategy over a 14-month period. The final report is expected in March 2023.
STR8 UP saves taxpayers ‘remarkable amount' of money: U of S
STR8 UP works with gang-affiliated youth between the ages of 15 and 30 across central and northern Saskatchewan who have been assessed as a high-risk to re-offend. Their projects are run out of the Saskatoon and Prince Albert offices. They assist approximately 400 individuals each year, providing 16,000 supports and services annually to those working to leave a street gang and criminal lifestyle.
According to the U of S’s Centre for Forensic Behavioural Science and Justice Studies, a substantial amount of STR8 UP's costs are not funded. The report said that STR8 UP was providing out-of-pocket money for everything from meals, clothing, travel, treatment/detox, funeral expenses, government identification fees, and miscellaneous expenditures to help gang members wanting to leave the lifestyle.
STR8 UP staff members also volunteer their time to lead or assist presentations at youth, treatment and correctional centres. As well as when attending court, parole hearings, visiting participant family members, visiting in hospital, attending STR8 UP meetings, and training STR8 UP members. They also write letters on behalf of participants for court/housing/school programs. They facilitate sharing circles in communities and jails by taking participants to ceremonies such as sweats, round dances, powwows and cultural camps.
The U of S’s Centre for Forensic Behavioural Science and Justice Studies said STR8 UP's yearly unpaid costs were approximately $120,355 in 2019. In that same year, the centre also said that STR8 UP saved the City of Saskatoon, its residents and the province almost $170,000.
“STR8 UP saved a remarkable amount of taxpayers’ money in terms of societal costs,” said the U of S’s report.
“STR8 UP programs are in line with best practices to provide sustainable solutions for the ongoing gang-related problems in Saskatchewan," said the U of S Forensic Centre report.
To donate to STR8 UP send e-transfers to [email protected], donate by mail by making cheques to STR8 UP: 10,000 Little Steps to Healing Inc. and send to 226 Ave. V. South, Saskatoon, SK, S7E 3E3. To donate in person go to 226 Ave. V. South, Saskatoon, or you can donate online.
If you wish to make another type of gift or have a question, please call the STR8 UP office at 306-244-1771. STR8 UP is a charitable organization. Charitable tax receipts may be provided.
According to Statistics Canada, in 2018, Saskatchewan had the highest rate of gang-related homicides in Canada with its rate being 50 per cent higher than the national average. Saskatchewan had the highest concentration of youth gang membership in Canada on a per capita basis.
Based on his interviews with 16 ex-gang members from Indigenous communities in Canada, Henry concluded that colonization removed Indigenous peoples from full participation in Canadian society and its detrimental impacts have led some Indigenous men to find alternatives like gang involvement to gain power, respect and financial resources to survive.
