Date: January 26th, 2021
Time: 0900-1200 PST
Format: Online-Zoom
Fee: $200 per person
No private or personal emails will be accepted for registration. Please use your email address from the correctional facility where you work at.
Send us a message through the contact form if there are any questions.
Topics
1. BC Gang Landscape (1hr)
Dr. Kieron McConnell
An overview of the history behind BC gangs and the current BC gang landscape. Discussion of key organized crime groups and their conflicts. Organized crime business and their influences locally, Nationally and abroad.
Learning objectives
- knowledge of the historical significance of gangs in BC
- identifying and recognizing different organized crime groups and their conflicts
- understanding the business behind the organized crime and what drives them
2. Intelligence gathering & Interviewing (1hr)
Raj Jaswal
An overview on intelligence gathering, interview techniques and best practices related to the intake and monitoring of institutionalized criminals and organized crime groups within the correctional system.
Learning objectives
- understanding the importance of protected B and C documents in relation to FOI requests
- identifying and recognizing those who are vulnerable to jail recruitment
- understanding organized crime operations within the corrections system
- recognizing officer safety
- performing initial intake interviewing for classifications and ongoing assessments
Bios
Dr. Keiron McConnell
Kwantlen Polytechnic University
Faculty of Arts
Professor of Criminology
Office-Surrey Campus
Dr. McConnell has worked within the criminal justice system for the last 30 years in a frontline capacity with the Vancouver Police. Specifically, in this work, he has worked exclusively in gang prevention, intervention and suppression for the last 15 years with a variety of police gang units. This practitioner experience combined with the pursuit of lifelong academic learning situates him for teaching and facilitating learning sessions on a variety of criminal justice-related topics and specifically gang and organized crime.
Dr. McConnell has held sessional/contract instructor status at the Justice Institute of British Columbia, Douglas College, Royal Roads University, Wilfred Laurier University, the Native Education Centre and Simon Fraser University Criminology. Moreover, Dr. McConnell is a faculty member at Kwantlen Polytechnic University in the Faculty of Arts-Criminology. In addition, he is one of the Safer Schools Together GRIP (Gang Reduction through Informed Practices) facilitators.
Dr. McConnell has a master’s degree from the University of Leicester and a doctorate degree from London Metropolitan University at the John Grieve Center for Excellence in Policing. His thesis is titled, Gangs in British Columbia: Mafioso, Gangster or Thug? which included qualitative research with almost 250 hours of field observations in Chicago, Toronto, Hobbema, Los Angeles and London, England. He has continued his research with gangs in New Orleans, Edmonton, Calgary, and Detroit.
Dr. McConnell was awarded the Frederick Thrasher Award for Excellence in Gang Scholarship, Leadership and Enforcement in 2014 at the National Gang Centre in Chicago, Illinois. He served as a citizen participant on the Surrey Mayors Task Force on Gangs, is a member of both the Canadian and the American Society of Evidence-Based Policing and is on the Board of the National Gang Crime Research Center in Chicago, Illinois. He has published in both the Journal of Gang Research and the Journal of Police Practices.
Dr. Dianne Symonds and Dr. McConnell recently completed their book, Stop Gangs Now: Your Part, a community health perspective on reducing gangs in the community. Moreover he is the co-author of a chapter on outlaw motorcycle gangs due out in 2021.
Dr. McConnell in 2020 completed the Executive Leadership Program at Oxford University.
Constable Raj Jaswal
Constable Raj Jaswal has worked within the criminal justice system for the last 13 years in a frontline and investigative capacity as a member of the Vancouver Police. Constable Jaswal has worked exclusively in gang intervention, suppression, major projects and intelligence gathering for the last 10 years within a variety of police units including the BC integrated gang task force, the VPD gang crime unit, the VPD organized crime section & most recently with the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit of BC. Constable Jaswal has focused considerable time on enforcement and intelligence gathering within the South Asian community across the Lower Mainland, in 2014 he was recognized for his work with a VPD Deputy Chief Constables commendation for developing strategies to curb gang violence in South Vancouver.
Constable Jaswal is one of a select few Municipal police officers across Canada who is a certified instructor in criminal vehicle interdiction training that targets the travelling organized crime criminal. Constable Jaswal has spearheaded the creation of a multi-agency working group between the RCMP, CBSA and VPD that educates and trains Canadian police officers in criminal interdiction. Constable Jaswal is also a recognized instructor for the RCMP & US drug interdiction assistance program that trains and educates law enforcement officers across the United States.
Constable Jaswal has a genuine passion for combining his practical experiences with educational training. Constable Jaswal serves a guest lecturer for both the Simon Fraser University and Kwantlen Polytech University criminology departments. Constable Jaswal’s dedication to his community has resulted in him being the recipient of community service awards from various South Asian temples within the City of Vancouver for his commitment to the communities he has worked in.
This training session is hosted by the charitable organization Odd Squad Productions (www.oddsquad.com), Safer Schools Together, (www.saferschoolstogether.com) and the not for profit Law Enforcement Training Association (www.letassociation.com).
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