Calgary Gangs and the Justice System

By James Wilt

---

On October 24th, 2009 the Calgary Herald published an article titled, ‘Calgary gang arrests trim murder tally, say police’, which was written by Herald reporter, Stephane Massinon. The article was sparked by the recent arrest of two alleged gang members who have been charged with multiple weapons offences. However, it seemed the primary focus of the article was the presentation of the opinion of Detective Gord Eiriksson, who believes that the increased number of gang arrests this year is resulting in considerably less gang activity in Calgary.

A compelling quote that Massinon used, which basically summarized the point of the article was:

“We've had so many people arrested this year or placed in jail, and since that's happened, we haven't had a gang homicide. I think that speaks volumes.”

Asides from the four quotes from Detective Eiriksson, Massinon also included various statistics and facts that described the previously mentioned arrests, as well as city-wide gang violence.

On a whole, Massinon’s article was extremely fact-based. As mentioned, she utilized many quotes and statistics, which added considerably to the believability and credibility of the news. However, the only person that Massinon quoted was Detective Eiriksson, which led to a very one-sided report. Such bias towards the law enforcement seems to be a trend whenever the media reports on crime related news, which could easily be countered with an increased number of sources.

On another note, it seemed that Massinon jumped between two different stories, which led to confusion. The first story was that of the two recently arrested people, including their history and current legal status.

The second story seemed to be the claim that increased arrests and detainment of gang members has led to reduced gang violence, which although compelling is somewhat distinct in regards to the initial story. I can understand the utilization of the arrests as a case study of sorts to support the detectives claim, but the manner in which Massinon seemed to suggest that both stories held equal importance within the report. A simple solution (which due to deadlines is difficult) would be to separate the news into two separate stories, which would lead to a much easier read for the layman reader.

Despite such criticism, I believe that Massinon did a fairly good job of presenting the news in a fairly objective manner. Although there were essentially two stories within the article, both were written factually and accurately.

---

Massinon, S. (2009, October 24). Calgary gang arrests trim murder tally, say police [Electronic version]. Calgary Herald.