This is a blog I had started in mid August. At that time I had decided to hold off publishing it ......here goes..it ain't pretty!
Early on I had decided that very personal information would not be blogged . However, this extraordinary event requires acknowledgement.
My friends car had been targeted, vandalized and several untraceable pieces (which were well hidden) were taken. Knowing that the goods would show up circulating informally for sale around the local dining and drinking places, I purposefully stayed home. Finding a stranger passing off his stolen goods would only make me angry and that wouldn't be good.
Finally a neighbour and I went for dinner and sure enough around comes a tray full of the missing pieces. The seller was prepared and his lies were fluid and forthcoming without hesitation I got the full scoop. Since I got his name (he offered) we were able to narrow down a list of people who may be involved.
After I carefully examined a few pieces, I purchased one and returned the piece to my friend.
What happens next is what is remarkable. The seller tries to dump a large quantity in a shop, who notifies the police. The police arrive, friend arrives, seller disappears. Not for long as he calls my friend to tell him where the balance of the goods are. Seems he doesn't want anything to do with the stuff anymore. Police take the stolen property into "evidence" though no one is receipted.
Now we await the police retrieval of the remaining missing pieces.
and wait
and wait
No the seller wasn't interviewed, the person reported holding all the stuff was not interviewed, or visited, or called. My friend was not "updated" (no point we did all the work so far...)
(The piece which "broke" the case I respectfully suggest should be held on to, perhaps framed as it now has a place in our history.)
Fast forward to September, a young woman is trying to sell more of his stolen goods. The shop keeper informs friend and police. She splits! Police let him take the goods home this time, interviewed him, took another statement. Wow a second chance! Wasted.
Now it's November and the police who seem only interested in how much press coverage they can garner have yet to advance on the given information, recovered the goods, nor have they returned goods they took into "evidence".
I plead with my friend to call them weekly, get a receipt for the goods they took, to get answers, if no charges are to be laid (uh ya think?) then at least get his stuff back. Optimistically he believes the police will ante up and place charges. I got a weeks pay that says nope. When they want to arrest someone they do...right away...simultaneously calling the CBC.
As a culture I don't have much to say about the "thin blue line", but living here listening to this and other stories, nightmarish by measure really have me disgusted with our national police.
People could fill books on the miscarriages of justice in the north, rapes, murders, incests which continue to this day. People don't get arrested, if by chance they are arrested, serve little or no time and guess what? They move on to serve in public office. Thats the north for ya!
Seems they don't ever "get their man", they are just to busy, too unorganized, too transient to be effective. Busy with dealing with domestics and drunks. The good hard working tax paying citizen doesn't even get the courtesy of a phone call.
Next time you think the cops in your neighbourhood need an upgrade....think again...your neighbours weren't raped outside the grocery store and still waiting for an arrest!
1 comment:
Hey Shelley,
What a frustrating situation. I would suggest your friend make a trip into the detachment to claim his items. They are his and the police don't get to keep things forever (although I'm sure it feels like it). He may have to prove in some way that they were his originally though.
If it's any kind of consoling, the members in your community are horrendously understaffed. The other problem is that there are so many more rules/(Canadian laws) in place for the criminal then the victim, and they can't just charge anyone without an incredible amount of information. It looks bad on the men in blue, but they can only enforce what the courts allow them to. It seems frustrating, they might be able to pick up the criminal, but hold him or charge him is another story not necessarily controllable by the them, but the court system.
You are right though because they are so understaffed up here, they are kept very busy dealing with domestics (which take a priority) and intoxicated individuals.
I hope your friend gets his stuff back! Good luck with that. Also maybe your friend can ask them to explain exactly why they can't do anything about his case, there might be a good reason.
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