Canada, Biker gang setting up shop?

OFF THE WIRE
By Lauren Gilchrist
Police monitor the presence of Outlaws motorcycle gang members at a house on Lansdowne Street West in Peterborough
(PETERBOROUGH) If there are members of the Outlaws motorcycle gang operating in Peterborough, that's one thing. Having the biker gang set up a clubhouse changes the playing field entirely.
OPP Detective Sergeant Len Isnor, with the Biker Enforcement Unit, says the establishment of a clubhouse means there are enough bikers living and operating in the Peterborough area to set up shop. And that has repercussions for the community at large.

"What it means is that you have people in that area that are now connected to one of the largest criminal organizations in the world. The Outlaws are in numerous countries all over the world and their numbers are more than 3,000 members worldwide," he says.

On Saturday (Nov. 6), members of the City police, the Peterborough County OPP and members from the OPP Biker Gang Enforcement Unit were monitoring a small, nondescript, two-storey home at 1999 Lansdowne St. West. The only thing that would make this house stand out from any other home is the boarded-up windows.

Det.-Sgt. Isnor says on Saturday motorcycle gang members gathered at the home and police witnessed some members of the Outlaws visiting members from another group called the Loners Motorcycle Club.

"We saw Outlaws from pretty much every chapter in Ontario coming down visiting the Loners," he explains.

He says police suspected that members of the Loners were possibly going to convert over to Outlaws. But they didn't see any of the Loners wearing Outlaws colours, which he says could be because of the police presence in the area that day,

On Tuesday afternoon (Nov. 9), Det.-Sgt. Isnor confirmed the home is being used as a biker gang clubhouse.

Det.-Sgt. Isnor says the Outlaws, established in 1935, are in communities across Ontario but they hadn't had a clubhouse in Peterborough, a city with a fairly large population.

"I think that's why the Outlaws are particularly interested in it [Peterborough]."

City Police Inspector Tim Farquharson says the last biker gang clubhouse in Peterborough operated in the 1970s when Satan's Choice settled in the downtown core.

"Motorcycle activity has been going on in Peterborough even since then. They're in, they're out. But there's a difference when a clubhouse comes," he explains.

Det.-Sgt. Isnor says Satan's Choice in Peterborough didn't have enough members and in 1995 their remaining members from Peterborough joined the Oshawa chapter.

"They still had that area [Peterborough] as a drug turf however they operated out of Oshawa," he explains.

In 2000, Satan's Choice disbanded and those members became the Hells Angels. He notes Peterborough is now known as a notorious Hell's Angel's area but they never set up a clubhouse here. Instead, they ran their Peterborough drug operations from Oshawa.

Det. Sgt. Isnor says just because the Outlaws are setting up a meeting place in Peterborough doesn't mean they are taking over this turf.

"Basically the situation is now volatile. The Hells Angels are not going to say 'Well, the Outlaws are in Peterborough we're going to roll over.'"

For Insp. Farquharson, the increased biker gang activity and the recent drug and weapons bust at the Motel 6 on Lansdowne Street is a sign of the growing drug problem in the Peterborough area.

"The issue is the number of groups that are vying for control of the drug trade in Peterborough has probably increased over the last few years," he explains.

He notes police will continue to monitor the home on Lansdowne Street West and are also following up on the Motel 6 incident to determine whether the individuals involved in that incident, where cocaine and weapons including a Tech- 9 submachine gun were confiscated, are related to a gang or organized crime.

He says Peterborough's proximity to Toronto, Oshawa and the GTA is bringing the drug activity here.

"The market is lucrative enough that they can make a lot of money here. We know we have a drug issue. It has been identified a few years ago. We've been trying to combat that. The problem we're finding now is we're getting into more organized criminal groups," he says.

"It's like Shangri-La has been discovered. This is what we have to deal with."

Insp. Farquharson says the City police and the OPP are working closely together but for the City police tackling the growing drug problems will take more resources.

"When you get into organized crime groups, you're talking more drug officers," he explains.

"It obviously takes speciality groups, plainclothes officers and specialty units, to do that work on the organized crime groups. Because of the increases we have seen over the last few years, it's draining on the resources."

Insp. Farquharson says police have requested more officers and are waiting to hear whether the new city council will approve that request.

"In the meantime, we've reorganized within our department as much as we can. We've taken from the front line, but then when you're taking from the front line to put into the drug unit then that's less officers on the street," he notes.

He says one of the problems with new organized crime groups is they could introduce drugs into the market that have not been seen in Peterborough for a long time, such as methamphetamine and heroin.

"We're having enough trouble with what we've identified," he explains.

He notes the other spinoff from a rise in drugs is a rise in break and enters, robberies, frauds, thefts, theft from vehicles, extortion and assaults. "We have done intelligences briefings with the last city council. We're sharing more and more information all the time because we have to," he explains.

"We have no choice. Yes, the intelligence will be passed on to the new city council as well and there has to be a working relationship with us."
lgilchrist@mykawartha.com