Surrey RCMP creates new video to prevent teens from joining gangs

The Surrey RCMP has produced a new video on the dangers of gang life, saying it is intended to spread awareness and prevent teens from joining gangs.

Police say the 15-minute video, which features personal accounts from people who have been affected by the issue, will be shown to high school and some elementary students in the city.

“Hopefully the students that see this see the damage that living a gangster lifestyle, … being part of gangs, is ultimately highly damaging, and then they will not go down that route,” said Insp. Ryan Element, Proactive Enforcement Officer.

Eileen Mohan, whose son Chris was shot and killed in the “Surrey Six” gang shooting in 2007, also shares her story.

“I put on this mask, and I walk out the house to go to work everyday,” she said. “But every afternoon I come back home to a silent home.”

The video is the fifth iteration of Shattering the Image, which was created by the Surrey RCMP Gang Enforcement Team in 2018. The team believes this latest version will be more effective than previous ones because of the real-life stories it shows.

“When we present the older versions, we’re presenting primarily a police perspective on what’s happening in the gang landscape,” Element said. “What it’s always lacked is lived experience.”

Former gang member Mindy Bhandher, who is featured in the video, spent 12 years in prison for second-degree murder.

“I have some regrets in my life and this is definitely one of them,” he said.

Chief Supt. Sean Gill, Senior Operations Officer, says Bhandher was a high-level gang member.

“He ended up murdering somebody — the worst thing you can do — and was incarcerated for 12 years,” Gill said. There’s no police officer that can tell that story.”

The police detachment says while kids aren’t necessarily being recruited into an established gang, they’re being recruited to sell drugs, which it says is alarming.

“We do see kids at a younger and younger age going into drug trafficking, which we believe is a gateway into other offences, other gangland offences,” Element said.

The Surrey RCMP Gang Enforcement Team has presented previous versions of Shattering the Image over 500 times, to more than 10,000 students.

Gill says Surrey has one of the largest school districts in the country with 72,000 students, and only 100 kids that are true gang members. He said this is proof that the program is working.