As number of gang charges slump, TTPS urges patience

Shane Superville

Senior Reporter

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ACP North East Curt Simon says a decrease in the number of persons being charged with gang offences does not reflect a failure on the part of the police to dismantle gangs.

Data collected by the police Crime and Problem Analysis (CAPA) branch showed that only seven people were charged with gang offences between January 1 to July 28, compared to 13 for the same period last year.

From this year’s figures, four people were charged with being gang members, while two were charged with being gang leaders and one was charged with promoting a gang.

Contacted for comment on Friday, Simon said gang investigations were usually very lengthy, noting that a “quick” investigation into a gang usually took 18 months to complete.

He said given the serious nature of the gang activities being investigated, “meticulous” focus was required to complete enquiries thoroughly.

“When you find you have already made some cases, you would have touched on some areas where you can’t return and add anything to that case.

“So you’ll find that there are a number of new gang investigations going on and we’ll just have to go with the evidence as the evidence presents itself to encourage and perhaps guide us on how we prefer charges.

“I am confident we are making the right moves and making the right steps even in that area of gang investigations and be patience with us.”

Simon also noted that while murders were generally trending downwards, he credited this progress to the introduction of State of Emergencies (SoEs) noting that it was “pleasing to the eyes,” but acknowledged that continued work from law enforcement was needed to ensure continued success.

“We had some significant achievements in the first SoE and what we did put in place to allow law enforcement to remain in the ascendency to continue achieving the downward spiral.

“The trend will continue as long as the TTPS and law enforcement persists in the plan we had in the first SoE and we will see what lessons we has to learn in this SoE, but I do expect we will continue to see this decrease.”