The Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games are now less than a year away, and the Associated Press reports Vancouver-area police are struggling to deal with an unprecedented wave of murders. There have reportedly been 12 murders in the past 16 days.
Peter Van Loan, Canada’s public safety minister, called the recent gang violence the worst in Canada. He told The Associated Press, “Vancouver and British Columbia are the focus of the largest number of organized-crime gang groups in Canada. These are very sophisticated criminal organizations that are particularly violent. It’s something you’d want to worry about whether you have the Olympics coming or not”.
Van Loan said the city’s recent violence centres around the illegal drug trade and according to The Associated Press Vancouver is a major import and export point for the international illegal drug trade.
Criminologist Rob Gordon said gangs are likely gearing up for an increase in business during the Olympics. The Associated Press reports Gordon specifically cited the marijuana business in Whistler, where the alpine events will be held, and said that could lead to greater violence as gangs fight over their share of the drug market at that time.
Gordon added, “Vancouver is not going to look particularly good while the world is watching if we have another one of these outbursts during Olympic events”.
The Associated Press reports International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Jacques Rogge shrugged off questions last week about the violence. He told a news conference in Whistler, “we are living in the real world. We are not living in utopia”.
