Former Surrey mayor Doug McCallum is calling for decisive action on extortion-related crimes as they cause growing fear in the city.
In the over 50 years he’s lived in the area, McCallum says he’s never seen this type of extortion in the city before. He says the India-based Lawrence Bishnoi gang has been escalating its attacks and wants the provincial Extortion Task Force to take immediate action.
One of McCallum’s demands is for the task force to provide daily public updates on their investigations to let people know what’s happening.
“Fear is being driven by lack of information in the public,” said McCallum. “The police do report them, but we need more information of how they’re doing, what they’re doing…”
McCallum says if the task force is more transparent, it will build confidence in the community.
“We need to build that confidence,” said McCallum. “We need to have our community strong, and we need our community to talk to each other, talk to their neighbours, talk to their business people.”
On top of transparency, McCallum wants the province to immediately deport any convicted or suspected terrorist involved in an extortion campaign. Earlier this month, the Canada Border Services Agency announced three people had been removed from the country as part of its work with the B.C. Extortion Task Force.
But McCallum says this needs to go further.
“Our justice system is very weak. It just takes forever, and then they get out on bail, and they’ll do the same thing because these characters don’t care about public safety at all, they’re just trying to get…money out of people and scare people.”
McCallum says the key to defeating this crisis will be a combination of strong policing, decisive government action, and a united community refusing to be intimidated.
This comes after another extortion-related shooting in Surrey this month. Police say a home along 32nd Avenue was targeted by gunfire on Wednesday after a previous shooting at the same property Saturday.
Speaking to the media in Langley, Premier David Eby said he had a briefing with the heads of the task force investigating the shooting.
“What I can share with you about the briefing is that I certainly recognize that an impressive amount of work is happening right now,” said Eby. “There is a need for the task force to do a better job to communicate to the community about what they’re working on, the people and technology that they’re bringing to bear on this and reassure people that this is being taken seriously.”
Eby says addressing extortion is a key priority for his government, and he’s hopeful they will see a renewed spirit of community engagement from the task force.
Meanwhile, the BC RCMP says it is committing more resources to support investigations and suppress extortion-related activity in the province.
“These resources are in addition to the dedicated Task Force partners and include but are not limited to Emergency Response Teams and Police Dog Services throughout the province, Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit of British Columbia (CFSEU-BC), and BC Highway Patrol,” reads the release.
“Their focus will be on prevention, deterrence, and intelligence-gathering in support of ongoing investigations.”
Assistant Commissioner John Brewer says the additional personnel will do targeted patrols, police stops, vehicle interdictions, and gather intelligence. Brewer adds the support from these resources will not be limited to any one city or area.
“We encourage members of the community to remain vigilant and report all suspicious activity immediately to your local police,” says Brewer. “We also want to acknowledge and thank those that have come forward to report extortion attempts and with information. Thank you for your trust and your assistance.”
Police are also reminding the public not to send money to extortionists and to contact police immediately if you believe you’ve been targeted.