Vancouver Island Team

The CFSEU-BC Vancouver Island Team consists of investigators from all of the Vancouver Island Municipal Police Agencies, OCABC and the RCMP. This fully operational team is integrated and works together with other enforcement teams including the National Weapons Enforcement Support Team (NWEST), the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) and the Victoria Regional Crime Unit (RCU), who shares accommodation at the CFSEU-BC work site.

Over the last year we have supported our partner agencies on a range of investigations involving organized crime and gang members. These investigations have included homicides, drug trafficking, kidnapping and serious aggravated assaults.

We are proactive in identifying and targeting known gang members and associates before they can become established on Vancouver Island. By working closely with the CFSEU-BC Vancouver office, the BC Integrated Gang Task Force, the BC Sheriff Services, the BC Civil Forfeiture Office, Island intelligence officers and other agencies we are able to coordinate a balanced approach to identify and suppress organized crime.

The primary focus of our investigations are on established criminal organizations. Utilizing the collective experience, knowledge, skills, and abilities of our partners we work with, we identify opportunities to prosecute and disrupt organized criminal activity.

On occasion, criminal prosecution may not always be practical or possible. By example, Project HALO identified some of the suspected criminal activities of members of the Nanaimo Chapter of the Hells Angels but the investigation did not lead to criminal prosecution. By taking an integrated approach, and within the parameters of civil law, we were able to provide information to the BC Civil Forfeiture Office (CFO) to support a civil action. The civil action by the CFO, based in part on our observations and potential evidence of criminal activity, was able to seize and restrain the Nanaimo Hells Angels Clubhouse. We have also worked separately with the National Weapons Enforcement Support Team (NWEST) and Island RCMP Detachments to successfully restrain firearms from Hells Angels members who are involved and charged with violent offences.

Through partnership and the integration of intelligence and resources, the Vancouver Island CFSEU-BC Team will continue to provide support to all of our partner agencies and aggressively investigate organized crime.