Police pay close attention as Hells Angels gather for massive funeral

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – It’s expected to be one of the largest gatherings of Hells Angels in the province’s history.

The funeral for late member Bob Green has drawn hundreds of bikers to south Vancouver.

And there’s a lot police can learn just by paying attention to it. SFU Criminologist Rob Gordon says without inside information it can be hard for investigators to know what’s happening within groups like the Hells Angels.

But events like this where everyone is out in the open police can record license plates, take notes, and update their suspect photos.

“This enables the police to, for example, check on membership changes, who’s in and out. They can update photographs of active suspects and just generally check on the information with respect to relationships amongst groups,” says Gordon.

He says the Hells Angels tend to be incredibly secretive and updates about membership and associations are hard to get.

This is one of the exceptions.

“You have a large number of members, self-proclaiming by virtue of being at a gathering like this, and you have a large number of associates.”

We have seen an uptick in gang violence in the wake of Green’s murder, but Gordon doesn’t expect we’ll see open warfare in the streets. He says gang violence tends to follow a familiar pattern and rival gangs will only trade blows for a couple weeks.

“It shuts down either because the grieving parties or the aggrieved parties no longer feel it’s necessary to continue. Or, alternatively, the word gets to them from the police that it’s a good idea to shut it down,” explains Gordon.

“Peace is restored, relatively speaking, until the next incident occurs. There’s been a pattern of these peaks and troughs now going back many years, and unfortunately, we can expect more.”

Gordon says it’s a cycle which is destined to repeat itself.