Crime Prevention Ottawa presented details to the city about a gang exit service that is set to receive thousands of dollars in funding, just days before a gang shooting resulted in the city’s first homicide of the year.
Yusuf Ibrahim, who police say is a known gang member, was shot and killed inside his south-end home on Feb. 6.
Already, 2015 has seen five shootings in the city, but this is the first fatality. Last year set a new record for shootings in Ottawa with 49 incidents, many gang related.
Acting Staff Sgt. Ken Bryden says that while many of the previous incidents were intimidation shots fired into the air or into a victim’s lower torso, there is no mistaking that the bullets in Ibrahim’s chest were meant to kill.
“They’re all aggressive and the homicide just took it up another step,” he says.
City council earmarked $400,000 in the draft budget to be put towards fighting gang activity. Of that amount, $300,000 is allotted for the overall gang strategy while another $100,000 will go specifically towards offering employment alternatives to gang members who are seeking a way out of the lifestyle, says Coun. Shad Qadri, chair of the Crime Prevention Ottawa board of directors.
The exit service will help adults find employment to replace the money they make from crime by providing them with access to education, training and job opportunities.
It will also offer assistance with any mental health or addiction issues and help the individual develop healthy relationships within their community.
“We have identified a missing link and that’s what we’re trying to work towards addressing,” Qadri says.
The city’s three-year gang strategy is a long-term plan consisting of many different pieces that fall under four principal categories – neighbourhood cohesion, prevention, intervention, and enforcement and suppression.
Nancy Worsfold, executive director of Crime Prevention Ottawa, says it is important to understand fighting gang violence involves a multi-dimensional approach that addresses root causes.
“In complex social problems, there’s no one answer. There’s no one project that’s going to solve it,” she says.
But the service will tackle a key gap in the gang strategy – criminally involved young men.
While there are a number of programs offered to offenders who fall under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, there has been a lack of services available to those who are tried as adults.
“If you commit a crime after your 18th birthday you’re in the adult system and there is just a lot less available to help you change your life,” she says.
It is estimated that the program will only be able to assist about 30 individuals a year because of the intensive case-by-case service it offers, although that number is still not concrete.
Worsfold says that although this targeted approach will not reach everyone, it will have a considerable affect on communities.
“These individuals have high impacts on neighbourhoods. The level of criminal activity of an active gang member is very high and that has a high cost. A high cost financially to the system but also a high cost of victimization,” she says. “If you want to assist young men from getting out of a gang, you can’t do it on the cheap.”
The city’s budget will not be finalized until March.
Bryden says that on the enforcement and suppression side, the police will continue to maintain an increased presence in at-risk neighbourhoods.
“What we have in place is what’s been in place for some time now. It’s what we do daily, it works, it provides results,” he says.