POLICE officers from the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit of British Columbia (CFSEU-BC) are working with officers from across British Columbia and have been joined by officers from across Canada this week as members of the Hells Angels, other outlaw motorcycle gang members from across Canada, and friends and associates of the Hells Angels gather for the British Columbia Hells Angels 40th Anniversary at their White Rock Chapter clubhouse in Langley and locations around the Lower Mainland from July 21 to 23.
CFSEU-BC is British Columbia’s anti-gang police agency and it has the mandate to target, investigate, prosecute, disrupt and dismantle the organized crime groups and individuals that pose the highest risk to public safety due to their involvement in gang violence. This includes outlaw motorcycle gangs and their members, and this week’s coordinated police response across British Columbia is in support of suppressing and disrupting the outlaw motorcycle gang members’ ability to conduct activities that may put the public at risk.
CFSEU-BC’s Outlaw Motorcycle Gang investigators and Uniform Gang Enforcement Team members, alongside officers from the Langley RCMP and several Lower Mainland and B.C. RCMP detachments and municipal police agencies, have been joined in a coordinated response by officers from the Alberta Law Enforcement Response Team (ALERT), Ontario Provincial Police, Sûreté du Québec and other Canadian police agencies. Police have been monitoring the outlaw motorcycle gang members and their activities as they have begun to arrive in B.C. and will continue to throughout the weekend to ensure the public’s safety, as many Hells Angels and other outlaw motorcycle gang members have either committed or been the victims of significant violence in recent years, according to a CFSEU-BC press statement.
Police are advising the public and motorists around the Lower Mainland that members of the Hells Angels and their support clubs, along with others, will be riding at various locations on Thursday and throughout the weekend. They are also expected to be attending parties at the various Hells Angels clubhouses in Vancouver, Coquitlam, Mission and other jurisdictions where police will be present. It is possible some will attend restaurants and licensed establishments around the Lower Mainland in jurisdictions where inadmissible patron programs are in place and police will assess any potential threat to public safety on a case-by-case basis.
“It is well documented that many Hells Angels, members of their supporting outlaw motorcycle gangs, and friends and associates, are involved in significant levels of criminal activity, including trafficking potentially deadly fentanyl and violent offences like assaults and homicide,” says CFSEU-BC’s Staff-Sgt. Lindsey Houghton. “Officers from CFSEU-BC will be working with our policing partners from Langley RCMP, around the Lower Mainland, and across the country through the weekend to deter any illegal activity and ensure public safety by way of an overt police presence.”
It is expected that at some time on Friday, July 21, large numbers of Hells Angels, members of outlaw motorcycle clubs, and their supporters will gather to begin a ride in Hope, traveling along Highway 7 and ending in Haney. In addition to the significant number of motorbikes, motorists should expect to see police officers in close proximity to the motorcyclists to ensure the safety of the public and to take any enforcement action if necessary.
