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The quick read: Kelowna's four-person Gang Enforcement Team is now permanent, after a four-month pilot over the summer seized more than 12 kilograms of suspected illicit drugs and 215 weapons, including 10 firearms. The unit became permanent on September 15, and its September results show the momentum has not slowed.

Kelowna's gang enforcement unit is no longer a pilot project.

The RCMP's four-person Kelowna Gang Enforcement Team, known as KGET, became a permanent fixture on September 15, following what police describe as a highly successful four-month pilot over the summer.

During that pilot, the team seized more than 12 kilograms of suspected illicit drugs and 215 weapons, including 10 firearms.

The results kept coming in September

Since becoming permanent, the unit has kept producing.

In September, with support from partner units, KGET seized approximately 1.8 kilograms of suspected illicit drugs, 71 weapons, two firearms, and seven imitation firearms.

The team works closely with the Crime Reduction Unit and criminal intelligence analysts, using proactive, intelligence-led policing to identify, target, disrupt, and dismantle organized criminal activity.

Sergeant Scott Powrie of the Kelowna RCMP Crime Reduction Unit said the pilot results clearly demonstrated the value of having a dedicated team focused on organized crime.

Why this matters

Organized crime is not an abstraction in Kelowna.

It shows up as drugs on the street, weapons in the wrong hands, and the disorder that follows both.

A dedicated team that actually measures its results, in drugs and guns taken off the street, is exactly the kind of focused policing residents have been asking for.

The pilot proved the concept.

Making the unit permanent means the work does not stop when the headlines fade, and that matters, because organized crime does not take a season off.

What to watch

Watch whether the seizures keep pace through the fall and winter, and whether the unit's intelligence-led approach leads to charges that stick, not just seizures that make a press release.

Seizures are a good start.

Convictions are the finish line.

Sources: Kelowna RCMP via 103-1 Beach Radio, October 26, 2026.

Photo credit: Photo by Scott Rodgerson on Unsplash