Sending thugs to jail and cracking down on dope may sound sexy for politicians, but it will never snuff out the root cause of gang violence, a gang-prevention forum heard yesterday.
Michael Chettleburgh, a Toronto-based expert on street gangs, said the Lower Mainland's gang plague could spiral out of control without long-term federal funding funneled into prevention programs.
"If we don't invest in prevention, we're going to see a real gang war in 10 years," he warned. "We can't just say we're going to stop the violence now. We'll never get rid of it; we're still going to have bloodshed in the streets."
The biggest culprit is the Conservative government, which is putting all of its anti-gang efforts into enforcement measures and stiffer penalties in a bid to win votes.
"Prevention is not as sexy as putting boots on the street," he said. "We are starting to fall into the trap of getting tough. This problem in Vancouver is years and years in the making, and it's going to take years and years to solve it."
Some of the region's best minds gathered at the Roundhouse Community Centre yesterday to brainstorm prevention measures to counter gang violence.
