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Peel grapples with youth violence

Region scrambles for solutions to rising gang activity and record number of homicides

August 19, 2008

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Dan Robson

STAFF REPORTER

There are children playing on Collins Cres.

They're laughing as they run, colouring the quiet street with vibrant shades of life, rebelling against the grey context that clouds this summer day.

Lost in their carefree moment, they don't seem to notice the writing on the wall:

"We will miss you Alex."

The words jump from a mound of flowers and cards piled by the red brick wall where Alex Masih was slain. The 16-year-old became Peel Region's 17th homicide victim of the year on Aug. 9 when he was gunned down next to this modest townhouse complex near Kennedy Rd. and Williams Parkway, in the heart of Brampton.

A week later Farhan Ali Omar, 22, was stabbed to death in Mississauga, bringing the homicide total to 18, and setting a record for the amount of murders in Peel in a single year. With more than four months to go, the numbers will likely continue to climb in the rapidly expanding suburbs west of Toronto.

But Masih was not just another number for the record books.

He was barely old enough to drive when his life was taken and it's this youthful age demographic that has community leaders in Peel particularly concerned about rising incidents of violent crime in the region.

"For us to pretend that things aren't happening on the street would be putting blinders on," said Peel Regional Councillor Gael Miles, in a recent interview with the Star. "We have to get the community re-engaged in the lives of young people."

Miles is lobbying the province to fund after-hours programming in schools, which would act as a central hub for each community. At each location, families would be able to come together and share hobbies, play sports, get support and build positive relationships, Miles said.

That's a step in the right direction, said Paula Maurutto, a sociologist who studies youth crime at the University of Toronto.

"You need to have strong community cohesion, you need to have recreational programs or community agencies that are actively dealing with these youth," she said. "What we know is that neighbourhoods that have a lot of community programs tend to do better in terms of preventing gang violence and gangs from emerging in the first place."

Increased gang activity in Peel is a trend that police in the region want to curb, before it leads to the type of downward spiral into urban decay that has plagued many North American cities.

In 2003, there were 39 known gangs in Peel. As of last year that number had jumped to 108, said Const. Dirk Niles of the Intelligence Services Gang Unit.

The number of gang members and associates has almost doubled in that period, from just over 800 to well over 1,500 in Brampton and Mississauga today, said Niles, adding that the increase is partially due to improved efforts in tracking gang activity in the region.

With a population of just over 1 million in Peel, the increasing numbers don't turn the region into a "gangland" by any stretch of the imagination, but they are a legitimate cause for public concern, Niles said.

Comparatively, Toronto, with a population of more than 2.5 million, has 3,500 gang members – roughly 130 gangs.

In a picture posted on Facebook, Masih makes a "C" shape with his thumb and index finger – a well-known symbol of the Crips street gang. There are others too, most showing a beaming young boy in a Blue Jays ball cap, laughing with friends, being a kid.

While the Crips symbol confirms nothing about why Masih was murdered and in no way implicates him as a member of the notorious gang, it does suggest that he may have identified with it.

This is common, said Niles. Young people often become enamoured with the perceived perks of the gang lifestyle, which they believe offer a sense of belonging, wealth and power. In some cases, kids as young as 12 are being recruited by local gangs, who are easily swayed by the older members they look up to.

"There's lower commitment to the gang, they're still in the early stages and there's a romanticized view – they like the idea of being a gang member," said Niles, adding that many parents don't realize that kids from all races, cultures, sexes and socio-economic conditions are being drawn to gang activity.

"It really is a myth to believe that it's simply this or simply that," he said.

Peel police have been working to be a part of the strong communities that experts say are needed to curb youth violence, Niles said.

A few years ago they developed a special program to build strong relationships with at-risk youths in specific communities. Participating officers monitor and support five young people each, meeting with them regularly.

More than 300 kids are supported through the program across Peel Region.

"If the police can go in and create a positive role model, show them that they're interested in community building, give them a different perception, build trust – that's going to go a long way," said Maurutto, noting that at-risk youth often foster negative perceptions of the police, making positive intervention difficult but necessary.