Keeping B.C. communities safe: Illegal Firearms Taskforce releases report
KAMLOOPS — A provincial task force dedicated to ridding B.C. of gun violence released its report today.
The Illegal Firearms Task Force, consisting of provincial experts with a wide range of experience in managing illegal firearms and organized crime, published its research after analyzing existing published research, conducting numerous interviews and holding numerous rounds of community consultation.
The report included 37 recommendations to deal with issues related to policing, legislative and policy changes, education and prevention. The government plans to follow up on four of those recommendations immediately. They include:
- Creation of an intelligence-led illegal firearms trafficking team. Expanding its mandate as the province’s gang unit, the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit will establish and lead a provincial illegal-firearms-focused strategy that includes cross-border investigations into domestic and international firearms traffickers in partnership with the Canada Border Services Agency.
- Establishing a centralized firearms intelligence hub to compile and analyse data that builds a comprehensive intelliegence picture related to illegal firearms.
- Law enforcement prioritization. Using the targeted process known as PTEP (Provincial Tactical Enforcement Priority), CFSEU-BC will work to coordinate and leverage all law enforcement to prioritize efforts against the use and trafficking of illegal firearms.
- Federal engagement. The province will actively press the federal government to provide B.C.’s share of the recently announced additional funding of $326.7 million over five years for help with the fight against guns and gangs.