Talk with Somali residents productive, police chief reports

Police Chief Mike Boyd called Saturday's meeting with members of Edmonton's Somali community a productive one which may help solve the murders of several young men in recent months.

About 250 people attended the four-hour gathering at the African Centre, where speakers talked about gangs, how homicides are investigated, police recruitment and what the community can do to become more involved in addressing youth violence and strengthening ties with police.

The meeting has been in the works since December, when two young men were murdered in one day.

On Dec. 2, Abdul Kadir Mohamoud, 23, was found shot to death in Grand Trunk Park, near 109th Street and 130th Avenue.

That night, Ahmed Mohammed Abdirahman, 21, was gunned down outside a townhouse complex at 148th Avenue and 89th Street. Police do not believe the two incidents are related.

Saturday's meeting was the third time Boyd has met with people in the city's Somali community after Mahamad Accord, executive director of the Alberta Somali Community Centre, wrote to him asking for help.

Boyd said the meeting was a good opportunity for him to explain the differences in policing styles between Canada and parts of the world where authority figures are viewed with distrust.

He also answered repeated questions about why investigators have not solved the Sept. 2, 2007, killings of Farhan Hassan, 27, and Kasim Mohamed, 28, outside an after-hours party at Fulton Community Hall where there were 50 to 100 people.

"My message to them was while there may have been different people who witnessed a homicide, it doesn't mean we will be able to solve that homicide unless those people are able to come forward and tell us what they know," Boyd said. "It was important for me to say that our officers work inside the law professionally and ethically in other to gather this information ... I think there is a perception that our officers can do things in Canada that are considered outside the law."

Accord called the meeting a good first step in forging stronger ties between the Somali community and police.

He said he was pleased to hear police are actively trying to recruit Somalis as officers and civilian employees.