Picture a young girl on a swing. She slowly sways back and forth as eerie music plays in the background. The camera pans out, revealing a body draped in a plastic sheet below the girl’s dangling feet.
That’s the dark picture being painted by police and the provincial government as they rolled out a new anti-gang campaign.
Attorney General and Minister of Justice Suzanne Anton joined Sgt. Lindsey Houghton and Chief Supt. Dan Malo of the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit of B.C. in Burnaby on Dec. 11 to unveil the newest tool in the fight against gangs.
According to Houghton, “End gang life” is a multiplatform public service campaign, which aims to educate the public on what gang life is really like. Both the anti-gang police team and the provincial government are optimistic this hardline approached will deter youth from engaging in the dangerous lifestyle.
“It’s all in the interest of making B.C. communities safer,” Houghton told media on Wednesday.
The campaign aims to deal with two issues: British Columbians have had enough of gangsters and gang activity in their communities, and people need to have conversations with loved ones about the repercussions of joining a gang, Malo said.
“It’s Christmas season. We know that families gather during this season, and we hope that this campaign will spark some conversations between families, between friends, between siblings of people that are pulling towards this lifestyle. We hope that this campaign generates that conversation and at least gets some people out of going down this bad road,” Malo added.
While the media campaign is not a direct response to the romanticized view of gang life portrayed on television or in movies, both Malo and Houghton agreed it does address some of the common misconceptions.
“There are absolutely no positives related to gang life. You will be assaulted. You will potentially end up being killed before you reach the age of 30, and as we’ve seen too many times, in fact, almost 25 per cent of the gang-related murders, the victims had children,” Houghton said. “No child should have to grow up without a parent because of gangs and organized crime.”
Children and family are an integral part of the province’s message.
The two-year campaign will unveil three phases each year with each phase comprising several television and radio public service announcements as well as posters.
The content, which includes images of children burying a parent, is designed to draw an emotional response from those either already in a gang or heading down that road. The announcements and posters are somber and disturbing – and that’s the intention, Houghton said.
“There was a campaign that was somewhat similar in Northern Ireland decades ago when they had issues, and a lot of violence with the IRA and one of the things that made it so successful in reducing … terrorism was messages that talked about family, talked about the impact on children, and that resulted in a dramatic drop in violence, and that’s something that we want to achieve,” he said.
Anyone wishing to provide feedback is encouraged to do so, Houghton added.
Police departments are also encouraged to get involved, and “tailor-made” content could be created if that’s what the departments want.
The public can expect to see and hear the announcements soon. Houghton and his team are also encouraging anyone interested in learning more to visit the campaign’s website at www.cfseu.bc.ca/en/end-gang-life.
