Leave members of motorcycle gangs alone.
The advice from a former OPP Commissioner as 750 members of the Hells Angels and other motorcycle clubs will be in Windsor-Essex from Wednesday to Friday.
Windsor Police and the OPP say they are preparing for a planned gathering and the public can expect to see a visible police presence as officers monitor activities and respond to public safety concerns.
Chris Lewis says the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) will be monitoring any bikers who attempt to enter the country and may be allowed in, depending on their criminal records.
Lewis told AM800’s The Kyle Horner Show, they’ll likely gather at certain strip clubs and bars.
“They pretty well control strippers across Canada so there will be some bars that they’ll go to and with the total permission of the owner and will be welcome to go in and spend some money but there will be other bars that won’t allow bikers with colours on to come into their establishment.”
Lewis adds the public should use common sense and avoid areas where motorcycle gang members are at. “If they’re not bikers and don’t want to get tangled up in something whether that be a gang war if other bikers come into town and decide to take on the Hells Angels and there’s shots fired, that kind of thing happens all over Canada and so could it happen in Windsor for sure,” he says.
Lewis says the bikers will likely keep to themselves.
“They’re not going to go into the city and start roughing people up, it’s not that kind of thing like we saw years ago when there would be riots and they’d beat everybody up. They’ll be more low key, stay amongst themselves but let’s face it, do you want your 18 or 19 year old daughter that’s in university going to hang out at a bar with the Hells Angels.”
Lewis says the biggest impact on the community will likely be traffic as officers will be stopping the hundreds of motorcyclists to gather information and potentially make arrests if there are warrants out for certain members.
Dharmesh Patel, chair of the Windsor Region Ontario Restaurant Hotel & Motel Association, says police were inquiring about group bookings as up to 1,200 bikers could converge upon the region.