Cracking down on the worst of the worst will reduce gang numbers
Cracking down on the worst of the worst will reduce gang numbers, he said.
"If we identify suppressing gang violence as [the department's] No. 1 priority in 2010, we have to have a way to measure it."
The concept of the list conjured up the image of 'wanted' type posters being plastered up around the Lower Mainland in the minds of the press, said MacDonald, who was asked to pose with a copy of the list and fielded such strange questions as: "Are [Top 10 gangsters] ugly? It would be better [TV] if they were ugly."
"[It's] generated a lot of interest, and yes, people in the media are likening it to a John Dillinger or Al Capone sort of 'FBI most wanted' poster or something from the wild west where they would imagine, I guess, us getting a posse together and going after these individuals," he said.
But, MacDonald conceded in the end, part of that notion is not too far from the truth.
"I guarantee that, internally, we will have complete profiles of the people in our Top 10 list and the mandate of not only our gang suppression unit, but other specialty squads in our department . . . to posse up and go arrest people we can bring to charges."
MacDonald said however the department decides to present the list, public response has been overwhelmingly positive. Most people are tired of gangsters publicly flaunting their status as criminals.
"We're going to start picking them off and arresting them until we achieve our goal of making Abbotsford a much safer place when it comes to gang violence and even gang presence," he said.
The public overwhelmingly wants wherever they call home to be safe, said MacDonald, and added the list could help with that.
"[Police] are going to start at the top of the food chain and arrest as many of those people as we possibly can."
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