[ad_1]
Companies in Kamloops, BC are taking a stronger stance against gangs and banning their members.
The crackdown is part of the new inadmissible sponsorship program launched this week, involving some 20 companies and the Kamloops RCMP.
"Anyone who wears the colors of a gang, is badociated with a member of a gang or leads this high-risk lifestyle with regard to drugs and violent crime, will not be welcome," said Const. Brad Matchim, who is with the crime prevention unit.
RCMP officers conducting bar checks will require anyone badociated with organized crime to leave the institution.
Matchim dismissed concerns that the identification of a gang member may be vague or discretionary.
"Our members deal with these people every day, so we know who the players are in town," he told CBC host Shelley Joyce. Kamloops at dawn.
Leave or face an arrest
An RCMP officer who goes through a restaurant or bar does not need to check with the staff before asking a client to leave, he said. They will perform background checks to prevent the prohibition of innocent bar.
"They have already given us permission through this program not to want these people in our facility," said Matchim.
Similar programs exist in the Lower Mainland and Kelowna.
Generally, says Matchim, gang members who are asked to leave elsewhere do so peacefully.
"They know about the program and they get up and pay their bills and they go away," said Matchim.
A client who refuses to leave can be arrested under the BC Intrusion Act.
"We want to make the restaurant and bar experience safer in the nightlife," he said. "Every city has this problem, and that's just one of the tools we use to help us solve it."
Source link
