Edmonton's Somali community meets with EPS

About 200 members of the Somalian community met with members of the EPS on the city's northside this afternoon.

The topic? How the two groups could work together to prevent and solve the crimes that have plagued the 10 thousand Somalians living in Edmonton last year. A number of Somalian men were murdered last year, many after recently moving here.

Zaki Hirabi is a 22 year old who just moved here from Ontario, similar to many of the homicide victims from 2008. He wanted to see just what the Edmonton Police Service could do to help the community. "I found that it's really important that we should come together as one big group, no just the cops doing the work by themselves. If we work together then anything is possible."

A main issue touched on during the information session was building trust between the Somalian community and the EPS. A number of officers - including some from recruitment and a community liaison sergeant were on hand to talk to interested individuals and to try and build that trust.

There was a bit of tension during a Q and A session, as members of the Edmonton Somali Community voiced their frustration over a lack of progress with the murders of Somalians from last year.

Chief Mike Boyd tried to make it very clear that police are working on it, but the community needs to recognize the police can only work within the bounds of the law. "Certainly we're investing some incidents because we believed there were affiliations with gangs. There are other incidents that we do not believe we are gang related, and we're investigating those accordingly."

Boyd admitted it was time for the community to ask some tough questions, but he needed to clear the air of misconceptions about how EPS operates.

One of the presentations was about Gangs and support to get people out of gangs. Boyd was then asked if the homicides involving members of the Somalian community were gang related.

If you need advice on getting out of a gang, or if you think someone is in a gang. EPS asks that you call their gang line at 780-414-4264.

Councillor Amarjeet Sohi was on hand for most of the meeting today. Before becoming a city councillor he was an active member of the Mill Woods Crime Council and the Police Chief's Indo-Canadian Liasion Committee.

Sohi felt it made sense to have a meeting between EPS and the Somali community. He said it would be able to increase the Somalian's trust in the police. "But I think this information will enable them, and give them the confidence that police is our friend, that we need to talk to them in order to help them, and also to solve these crimes that have gone unsolved for quite a long time."

This is the second meeting in just three months between the EPS and the Somali community.