RCMP roll out anti-gang campaign

KELOWNA – Residents of B.C. will soon see a multimedia campaign targeted towards both gang members and those affected by gangs.

Phase one of the campaign consists of videos, posters and radio public service announcements produced by the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit of the RCMP.

CFSEU media relations officer Lindsey Houghton says the genesis for the campaign started a year ago.

“Gangs affect all of our communities,” he says. “The primary target group for the phase one campaign are people involved in gangs and gang violence as well as those at risk of being drawn into it.”

Houghton says the secondary targets are those directly or indirectly affected by gang violence.

“It’s the mothers, the fathers, the wives who may see these products and then become a little more educated,” he says. “Maybe this will cause them to have that conversation with the gang member they know and possibly get them to change their behavior.”

Houghton says the campaign will run continuously over a number of years and will include around eight different phases.

“It’s not just a one-time thing. This will be a sustained campaign,” he says.

Phase one of the campaign officially launched Dec. 11 and includes three different videos, three posters and three radio PSA’s.

Houghton says the objective is not only to inform B.C. residents of the website with links to resources available to gang members, but to make the public think more carefully about the impact of gangs in our communities.

The posters are already in more than 150 locations across the province and can be picked up at most RCMP detachments.

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To contact the reporter for this story, email Adam Proskiw at aproskiw@infotelnews.ca or call 250-718-0428. To contact the editor, email mjones@infotelnews.ca or call 250-718-2724.