OFF THE WIRE
blogs.vancouversun.com
Posted by:
Kim Bolan
First of all, Happy New Year to everyone!
I am already living up to one New Year’s resolution – to work less free overtime! As a result, I have ignored the blog all long weekend and am just going through your comments now.
I hope everyone had a good holiday season. I certainly enjoyed a few days of skiing and lots of family fun.
Fortunately New Year’s Eve was relatively quiet for police and nothing materialized on the gang front.
I think 2012 will be very interesting on my beat.
We should see the start of two of the largest gang trials in B.C. history – the Surrey Six case (the photo above is of investigators shortly after the October 2007 murder) and the United Nations murder conspiracy trial. While there are no firm trial dates, there has been talk about each of this high-profile murder trials beginning in the fall of 2012.
And the Greeks gang murder trial should wrap up later this spring with a verdict likely before summer. That trial has not had as much media coverage as it deserves. That is in part due to sweeping publication bans on the identities of several of the Crown witnesses, So while the jury knows who these witnesses are and gets to hear all about their histories when they testify, the media doesn’t get to tell you the same information. That makes writing stories about the case extremely difficult especially when testimony often focuses on a person’s history.
Not to forget the Hells Angels – the Supreme Court of Canada will decide whether the federal Crown can proceed against John Punko and Randy Potts about whether their crimes were committed to benefit the notorious biker gang. That appeal is set for March 21st
The murder rate across the Lower Mainland was down in 2011. For the total region, factoring in all jurisdictions from Chilliwack to Squamish, there were 48 homicides. That includes 31 in the jurisdiction of the Integrated H0micide Investigation Team, 15 in Vancouver proper, one in West Vancouver and one in Delta.
