OFF THE WIRE
Members of the Hells Angels motorcycle club are stopped at a police check stop on Howard Road on Friday, July 15, 2011.
Photograph by: Tyler Brownbridge, The Windsor Star
WINDSOR, Ont. — The Hells Angels are in town to party, and police intend to keep an eye on them.
“Bikers of the Hells Angels are a criminal group. They are organized crime,” said Det. Sgt. Len Isnor of the OPP’s Biker Enforcement Unit. “And we [police] concentrate our efforts to monitor illegal activity.”
Isnor expects more than 200 Hells Angels from across Canada will be celebrating this weekend at the motorcycle club’s compound in Windsor.
There’s usually a party on the site every summer, but this year’s has added meaning for the group.
“It’s the 10th anniversary of the Hells Angels being in Ontario,” Isnor said. “This one is on a larger scale.”
Isnor said the last time the Windsor-area clubhouse had a gathering of this magnitude was in 2006.
“We know they’ve sent invitations out to members across the country. ... We’re going to monitor the situation and make sure the community is safe.”
According to Isnor, the idea that the Hells Angels are being unfairly targeted by police is “pure rhetoric.”
“These people are criminals,” he said. “We have lots of evidence of that. I could talk to you all afternoon about that if you wanted.”
On the suggestion that the Hells Angels are no more than motorcycle lifestyle enthusiasts, Isnor is blunt: “That’s what they want the public to believe,” he said. “We know better.”
Isnor said about 30 members of the Biker Enforcement Unit are in the area now, but the work of watching the Hells Angels is being done as a joint forces effort, including the co-operation of Essex County OPP and the Windsor, Amherstburg and LaSalle police services.
Asked if he thinks the Hells Angels will spend any time in the community, away from the clubhouse, Isnor said that’s a possibility and police have a co-ordinated response plan ready.
“We’re prepared to deal with that,” he said.
Isnor expects the visiting Hells Angels to party Saturday night, then leave on Sunday.
Bikers wearing Hells Angels colours have been seen in Windsor, but there wasn’t any trouble.
Five years ago, in June 2006, the Hells Angels festivities at the clubhouse included a 10-minute fireworks display, an AC/DC cover band and visits from female admirers.
That weekend, four Hells Angels were involved in a brawl in the parking lot of a Windsor strip club.
A group of four Michigan men were also involved in the fight, with one of them suffering a head wound caused by a broken beer bottle.
Charges against the Hells Angels were dropped when the Michigan men refused to testify.
Read more: http://www.windsorstar.com/news/police+watching+Hells+Angels+weekend+bash/5114531/story.html#ixzz1SNs2F8NE
