An OPP-led weapons enforcement unit is helping Hamilton police with investigations into a recent spate of shootings in this city, offering expertise in tracing guns and the criminals who deal them.

There have been 11 shootings so far this year; five of them on city streets.

Two of the shootings have been homicides, including the recent slaying of 18-year-old Shariek Douse, shot in the head in the MacNab Street North housing complex where his family lives.

And Hamilton isn't the only community combating gun violence.

The Provincial Weapons Enforcement Unit (PWEU) is involved in many investigations of shootings in various communities across Ontario right now, said Acting Det. Insp. Joe Goodwin.

"I think we're seeing a large problem with guns and shootings on streets, maybe more than in the past."

It's difficult for police to know whether this means there are more guns on the streets right now, Goodwin said, noting it's likely more a case of the guns ending up in the hands of the wrong people.

Typically, shootings, and in particular shootings in public areas, are perpetrated by street gangs.

The PWEU, which includes a Hamilton police officer seconded to the OPP who works closely with local gang and gun officers, is routinely called in to trace guns and get at the bigger picture of where weapons and criminals are coming from.

The unit has partnerships with the RCMP, border officials and the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. The majority of guns used in crimes are brought here from the United States. The unit can restore serial numbers rubbed off guns and has analysts who map criminal groups and the movement of guns used in crime.

Toronto is also experiencing a spike in shootings this year, with five shootings alone in the past week.

According to Hamilton police statistics obtained by The Spectator through a Freedom of Information request, there have been 79 people charged with firearm offences so far this year, nearly as many as the 81 charged in all of 2014 and more than the 62 charged in 2013.

The years 2012, 2011 and 2010 saw 90, 89 and 85 persons charged with firearm offences, respectively.

Yet despite the recent spike in shootings, Hamilton police maintain that overall violent firearm offences have been steady over the past three years, with 38 incidents the first five months of this year.

There were 94 violent firearm incidents in 2014 and 85 in 2013, down from 120 in 2012 and 126 in 2011. The year 2007 is still considered to be the height of gun violence in this city — which is why the service created the Gangs and Weapons Enforcement Unit.

Hamilton police have repeatedly declined to provide anyone from the unit to talk about the shootings or gang activity in the city.

But in a 2011 detailed interview about street gangs with the unit, police said they had interacted with 22 street gangs in 2010, up 14 from 2008.

Police spoke about the fluid nature of street gangs in Hamilton, which typically form over a common bond, such as a neighbourhood, but don't hold strict territory over crimes, namely drug sales, in any part of the city.

Police named a number of gangs they had interacted with around 2010 and 2011. But just as street gangs can form quickly, they disappear or are absorbed by other gangs quickly, too.

Missing from that list are three street gangs that community members are now talking about in the North End, where many of the recent shootings have taken place — North Side Movement, Loyalty Ova Money and the Black Native Association.

Hamilton police have been quick to dismiss the involvement of gangs as a motive in the Douse homicide. However, police admit there is a difference between what is a court-recognized organized crime group and what might be considered a gang on the street level.

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Spokesperson Catherine Martin said the police service continues to investigate the homicide and shootings, including the work of the gangs and weapons unit, which "plays a role in many of the investigations involving firearms."

"Any time a firearm is in the hands of a person illegally, there is a potential for serious harm or injury to occur, no matter what affiliation the person may or may not have," Martin said. "What we need is information and the time to come forward is right now."

The PWEU tracks what it calls "time to crime," meaning the time from when the gun is legally purchased to when it emerges in crime, Goodwin said.

Sometimes it's days and sometimes it's years, he said, explaining that unlike drugs, which are consumable, guns can be used over and over and move among criminals.

Police are seeing a change in the way guns move here, in part, they believe because of co-operation between U.S. and Canadian officials, Goodwin said.

Gone are the days when officials saw many big shipments of guns trafficked over the border, he said. Now it's more likely two or three guns at a time.

Guns typically come up the I-75 — a major north-south, interstate highway in the U.S.

While the U.S. remains the largest source for crime guns in Ontario, police are seeing a rise in domestic trafficking, Goodwin said. This typically involves guns stolen in Ontario, or "straw purchasers" who obtain a licence, buy a gun and then pretend it gets stolen, when it's been sold to criminals.

Goodwin cautions lawful gun owners that many of the thefts are targeted and involve people being followed from gun shops or shooting ranges.

Crime guns can easily travel across the province with criminal groups and often travel along the same pipelines as drugs, he said.

Ammunition, which can be difficult to procure, is similarly trafficked. The unit also tracks the sale of illegal firearm modifiers, such as silencers and selector switches, which turn semi-automatic guns into automatics. Goodwin said these are sold online.

Since 2000, the PWEU unit has been involved in investigations with more than 35,000 firearms, Goodwin said.

Anyone with information on the shootings is asked to call police, including Det. Ben Adams at 905-546-3836 with information on the Douse homicide, or anonymously through Crime Stoppers at 1-866-222-8477.