The Delta Police Department (DPD) is getting funding from the federal Guns and Gangs Violence Action Fund (GGVAF).
The Delta Police Board was recently provided an update on the department’s application for funding under the grant program, which the province administers.
In a letter to the board from Mike Farnworth, Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General and Deputy Premier, he said the DPD was successful in its application and has been provided with $150,000 from the GGVAF for the fiscal year 2023/24 to “support the reactive and proactive enforcement related to combatting organized crime activity in Delta.”
The DPD have capitalized on the opportunities presented by the GGVAF funding to assist with the operation of their gang enforcement program that currently monitors 27 gang entrenched individuals and their families, providing resources, support and targeted enforcement, wrote Farnworth.
“I am very confident that they will build on this track record of success and continue to enhance public safety in your community moving forward,” said Farnworth.
The DPD in the past few years has also focused its efforts to make things uncomfortable for gang members, letting them know they are not welcome in Delta.
In 2021, the DPD announced it was launching a new team focused on intercepting any potential gang or related activity, and acting as a deterrent, through a high-profile presence in public spaces such as along Scott Road and at popular restaurants.
At the time, Chief Neil Dubord said the current conflict is seeing an increased involvement of youths in gangs, with about 50 per cent of gang members in their teens.
The DPD also brought in the Inadmissible Patron Program, a public safety partnership between area businesses and public facilities.
The goal is to deter individuals known to be associated or involved in serious and/or violent criminal activities from entering or remaining in participating establishments in the City of Delta.
