Canada’s police chiefs lined up to support British Columbia’s fight against gang violence today and urged Ottawa to make much-needed legal changes to help police battle crime.

Steven Chabot, president of the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police, said B.C.’s promise of more officers and crown prosecutors will help police fight gangs and guns on the streets.

But what’s really needed are new federal laws to help police wiretap digital devices and make evidence disclosure less of a burden on the legal system, he said.

“There is almost universal understanding this is a crucial area of law that needs updating,” Chabot said at a meeting of B.C. police chiefs in Victoria. “What is required now is for the Government of Canada to act.”

B.C. Solicitor General John van Dongen said he’ll travel to Ottawa next week to lobby the federal government.

Canada’s surveillance laws were created in the days of rotary phones. While police can still request access to modern BlackBerrys and handheld computers, the telecommunications industry has been slow to develop technology needed to actually intercept the information.

It’s “virtually impossible” to wiretap a BlackBerry in some cases, said Bob Rich, president of the municipal branch of the B.C. Association of Chiefs of Police. Criminals create private BlackBerry servers and communications companies have resisted creating backdoor police access systems because of the cost, he said.

A law to address the problem, called the modernization of investigative techniques act, has failed at least twice. The Liberal party introduced it again as a private members’ bill Feb. 4.

The law is written and stakeholder groups have already been consulted, said Clayton Pecknold, deputy chief of Central Saanich police who sits on the law amendments committee of the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police.

“All we need is the political will to do it,” said Pecknold.

But communications companies have resisted. According to documents obtained by the Ottawa Citizen under the Access to Information Act last year, the telecommunications companies complained the issue of compensation for working to help police is a “significant point of dispute” and they would not support the law in its form at the time.

Even if Ottawa agrees to press forward with change, van Dongen said he has no idea how long it would take to make the new law a reality.

“Police have said this is a critical issue, it has been for years, and we are going to be asking all parties in Ottawa... to work together to move this issue forward as quickly as possible on an urgent basis,” said van Dongen.

rfshaw@tc.canwest.com