1 GANG SUBDUED, 5 TO GO FOR COPS

It's been a rough couple of weeks for the city's street gangs.  First, Ottawa police rounded up many members of the city's most violent street gang, the Ledbury-Banff Crips, forcing the remaining members to lie low.

Then police went public with the gang's actions, which include drug trafficking and prostitution.

"The gang itself has been impacted according to interviews with gang members," said Sgt.  John Medeiros, head of the Ottawa police gang unit.

Although dismantling the south-end gang remains a high priority for police, they have not forgotten about the five other "hard-core" street gangs in the city, said Medeiros.

But he said it's difficult to gauge whether recent public attention has had a detrimental effect on the gangs' operations.

In the Bayshore area, a spate of graffiti has recently cropped up, leaving residents to speculate that they have a street gang in their neighbourhood.

"It's obviously an issue we're looking at," said Medeiros.

A gang unit investigator went to the neighbourhood this week to take photographs of the offending graffiti and speak with residents.

"To say they have a gang in Bayshore, I wouldn't say that's accurate at this point," said Medeiros.  "But there are gangs operating in neighbourhoods in this city."

Medeiros said he was not "denying" there are gangs in the west end, but added that investigators must do their homework on this recent case of graffiti before saying whether it's linked to an established gang.

'Community Issue'

A positive spinoff that police have noticed since going public about the city's gangs is the increased interest from members of the community about how they can help prevent new gangs from springing up in their neighbourhoods.

"Everybody has a role to play," said Medeiros.  "It's a community issue, it's not just a police issue."

Parents have also been requesting information from the police on how to prevent their kids from being recruited by a gang.

Police are looking to establish partnerships with other agencies, such as social housing, schools and immigration organizations, to address the problem of street gangs in the city.

"It plays a key role in being able to deal with future gang problems," said Medeiros.  "There's an element of suppression when dealing with gangs, but there's also a level of education."