Why do I have the creepy feeling that the only ones who are going to be surprised at this are the wishy-washy, hug-a-thug, “but they’re just children,” social worker clone, overindulgent doorknobs that thought idiotic legislation like the YCJA was a good idea to begin with?  I remember, back in the ’80s, when scary social conservatives were saying that the YOA would be the thin end of the wedge for juvenile delinquents to run amok.

“If juveniles aren’t forced to face consequences that reflect the seriousness of their actions,” they said, “they’ll just become more and more brazen in defying the law.”  The go-easy-on-the-poor-dears social worker set responded, predictably, as if anyone against lenience towards little criminal bastards was suggesting that the little buggers be flogged in the public square with barbed wire.  But the truth is that without real consequences, juveniles, just like any other criminals, have been having less and less respect for the laws of the land; even flaunting their defiance of it.  The chickens, as it were, have come home to roost:

Sarnia police are looking for help after 150 teens tore apart a home and stole things after a party that got out of control.

And they’re not getting any help from the teens who went wild and then posted pictures of their destruction — pegged in the $10,000 range — on the internet.

[…]

By the time police showed up at 10 p.m. after concerned calls from the host and neighbours, between 100 and 150 young people, aged 13 to 17, had punched holes in the walls of the home and ripped down drywall ceilings.

Can’t say that I didn’t see this coming.  And I’m starting to get tired of being right…

Quick: what’s black and white with a cherry on top? Any dieas? Aw, come on now, at least one of you out there must have some idea what I’m babbling about. Some of you must have heard the question before. If you know the answer to that one, you’re probably at least as old as me and you’re also going to find this picture to be, shall we say, vaguely familiar:

Yes, that really is just what it looks like: the OPP are back in black… and white. It seems that the OPP have decided to do away with the white cruisers that they’ve been puttering around in since the late 80s or so and get back to the good ol’ black-and-white. And no, it’s got nothing to do with going retro. 🙄 One of the main reasons for the return to the old school paint job is visibility, plain and simple:

“We welcome the return of the traditional black and white cruisers,” said Minister Kwinter. “Their enhanced visibility on Ontario’s major highways will add significantly to the safe driving message we want to reinforce with the motoring public. We support the OPP and the important work police officers are doing to keep our communities safe,” added Minister Kwinter.

The black and white cruisers will provide a distinctive presence to OPP stepped-up efforts to make Ontario highways safer and to bring traffic safety issues in line with other important public safety issues and concerns.

“Officer and public safety are the primary concerns,” said Commissioner Fantino. “The black and white patrol vehicle will be instantly recognizable as an OPP patrol car and, with the new LED high visibility roof lights and vehicle markings, will have a greater impact on the visibility of OPP vehicles patrolling our communities and our roadways,” added Commissioner Fantino.

Yeah, you can spot those things about a mile away, as near as I can remember. And yeah, most of slow down when we see a cop car. All we need now is for some loopy lefty to start hooting about “turning back the clock” that the story can be complete… 😆

Yes, it is; and damned fast, too. As if averaging more than one a month wasn’t bad enough, there has been yet another shooting in downtown London. For those keeping count, that makes four in three months now. That’s not for all of London, either. Nosiree, that’s just for the core area and so doesn’t include the guy that was shot on McNay street a month or so ago.

I’ve heard some people trying to take the easy road, just saying that the problem is pretty much restricted to a “certain kind” of bar or club. Translation: those clubs that play hip-hop and assorted techno crap with the bass turned up to the point where it registers on seismographs for miles around and attract the early-twentysomething crowd. Well, you can put that idea to rest. While I don’t go there myself (I prefer a more blue-collar kind of joint 😉 ), the pub where the latest incident occurred is actually kind of snooty; the sort of place where seldom is heard a “yo, yo, wazzup” and you can find enough neckties on the patrons to make a giraffe a turtleneck.
As you can imagine, the fingers are being pointed in all the usual directions with the predictable suggestions being made:

An early-morning shooting in a posh downtown bar left one man in hospital yesterday and the bar owner calling for a “zero-tolerance” approach to the core’s escalating gunplay.

“London should adopt a zero-tolerance policy for its own survival,” said John Scott-Pearse, owner of Robinson Hall. “That (approach) worked in New York City and it will work here.”

I agree. We do need a zero-tolerence policy when it comes to these assholes that think it’s all jolly to send lead flying around on our streets. Don’t go looking at the cops to fix this, though. No, I’m not blaming them. The cops are already doing their job: respond to calls, follow the leads and nab the bad guys.

The problem crops up when the cops manage to track down and bag one of these creeps, only to have some idiot judge fire him right back out the revolving jailhouse door again. Don’t believe me? Just take a look at the case of Ahmed Moalin-Mohamed (who I’ve ranted about plenty), the guy that shot four — count ’em: FOUR — people on Thanksgiving weekend, only to get sprung from the pokey by a jackass Justice of the Peace named Jack Carroll.

And before you go yapping that that’s the exception: don’t bother.  It isn’t the exception, it’s the norm.  From drug dealers to shooters to pedophiles and even child killers, they all puke up their sob stories and stroll away, frequently vanishing, no doubt laughing their arses off at the impotence of the courts.

We don’t need more cops; what we need are new judges.

This doesn’t happen to me much. Usually, my first impression of a thing, whatever it may be, is pretty accurate and changing my mind isn’t something that I find myself having to do very often. Some people (okay, okay; most people…) will call that stubbornness but I prefer to think of it as just paying attention to what the hell’s going on in the first place. It usually works out quite well for me. Not always, mind you; but usually.

Sometimes though, I end up doing an about-face. Like today, when I started reading the Freeps this morning and found this:

Police say kin shares fault

Thu, January 11, 2007
By KELLY PEDRO, FREE PRESS REPORTER

The parents of a woman violently gunned down by her former boyfriend are partly responsible for her death, London police contend.

In just-filed court documents, a lawyer representing the force alleges Tom and Kim Bol didn’t report contact between their daughter Vanessa and her ex-boyfriend, Emerson Dominguez, when the parents knew he was not supposed to contact her.

The “WHAT THE F***?!?!?” that came flying unbidden out of my piehole was probably heard in Lambeth. The first instinct was, as you’ve likely guessed, pretty obvious and something that I think just about any parent in the world will be able to relate to…

What the hell is wrong with the cops? Have they lost their God damned minds? Just who the hell was the shithead that came up with this lamebrained idea in the first place? Even if it’s true and the parents were somewhat at fault, these people lost a daughter, for Christ’s sakes; they’ve suffered enough. LEAVE THEM ALONE!

Pretty standard stuff, right? Yeah, I thought so, too. But then I kept reading and lo and behold, there was a little detail about the whole affair that, with all the time that has passed, I had managed to forget all about: following Vanessa Bol’s tragic death at the hands of Emerson Dominguez in November of 2003, it didn’t take long for the lawyers to start circling the carcass. After all, it isn’t for nothing that so many in this world consider lawyers to be one step down the food chain from plankton. Dominguez is currently serving a life sentence for second-degree murder, with no chance of parole for 20 years (theoretically, at least; with our revolving-door justice system, you can never tell… but that’s another rant). Vanessa died on the third of November and the Bol family decided to sue the London cops a little over six months later:

In July 2004, the Bol family filed a civil suit against London police for nearly $1.4 million, claiming officers failed to protect their 17-year-old daughter.

[…]

The civil suit names London’s police services board, retired chief Brian Collins and two London police officers.

An amended statement of defence says the Bols “did not report Dominguez’s contact with Vanessa Bol to other persons or agencies of authority who might have intervened to protect Vanessa Bol.”

[…]

The statement says the Bols did not report threats or assaults by Dominguez against Bol.

So there you have it. Puts the issue in a slightly different perspective, doesn’t it? No doubt about it, there’s a turd in this punchbowl someplace. The questions is: which side is right and which side are being utter assholes and pulling some pretty lowdown crap?

On the one hand, if the allegations are true, it takes some kind of God damned gall to try to and cash in — to the tune of over a million bucks — on your own misdeeds by pinning the blame on someone else. We rely on police to serve and protect the public from scum like Dominguez but it’s a two way street; cops rely on us to tell them when we know that bad people are doing bad things. These folks ain’t psychics, ya know. If the Bols really did know about Dominguez stalking and even assaulting their daughter and they did nothing at all about it… then I say lower the boom on ’em. Bring the hammer down and make an example out of them for others that would try and grab for such a loathesome Munchausen lottery jackpot. On the other hand, though…

If these allegations are false, this represents stooping about as low as you can get. This would be the ultimate in kicking someone when they’re down, the cheapest of cheap shots, and something that we should damn well expect — indeed, demand — that those who are trusted to hold authority in our society place themselves far above. If this is some bullshit stunt, heads should roll for it.

The problem is that we don’t know which story is the truth and which is bullshit. So there it is, big as life and twice as problematic. And here I am, in territory about as unfamilliar as it gets for me… on the fence.

And I don’t like it.

When I see stuff like this, my nature practically demands that I take one side or the other and be quick about it. But make sure it’s the right side. I wish I knew enough to make that decision but I don’t. So here I sit, in the mushy middle, wanting to speak up for somebody but not sure who, and haunted by the words of Mark Twain:

“It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt.”

Easier said than done.

Will somebody — ANYbody — please tell me, at exactly what damn point did London become the gun-totin’-scumbag magnet of Ontario? According to today’s Freeps and several other media sources, TO scumbag Brent Julian Abrams (wanted for such lovely things as drug and firearms charges and beating his girlfriend to a bloody pulp) is thought to be heading for the London area:

A violent Toronto man accused of beating his baby’s mother to a pulp Christmas Day, and believed to be armed and dangerous, could be in London, Toronto police warn.

Brent Julian Abrams, who knows people here and often visits, should be considered “armed and extremely dangerous,” police said yesterday.

“He spends a lot of time down (in London) . . . he may very well be down there,” said Toronto Det. Doug Dunstan.

“He’s a gun guy, he’s a drug guy and that is his life,” he said.

Well, isn’t that just God damned jolly? Keep your eyes open for this bugger…

Wanted for:
assault causing bodily harm
break and enter
property damage
14 firearms-related offences
possession of a controlled substance (cocaine)
possession of a controlled substance for the purpose of trafficking
assaulting a peace officer

BRENT JULIAN ABRAMS
24 years old
6’0″ tall
160 lbs
has a scar on the left side of his neck
CALL: 416-808-4204 (TO) or 519-661-5670 (London)

Well, this is… different. Not really sure what to make of it, to be honest with you. Could be good, could be bad; I really haven’t made up my mind yet.

As most of you have probably heard by now, the cops from Hamilton, Ontario have put up a vid on YouTube that shows footage from security cameras that police are hoping will help them in finding the killer or killers of 22-year-old Ryan Milner. Milner was stabbed to death at the corner of King William and Catharine Streets after attending a Sean Price concert at Club Seventy Seven on Nov. 16th.

I’m not sure if this is going to work or not. And to be completely honest with you, while I do support just about anything that gets murdering scumbags off the streets, I just can’t shake this nagging feeling in the back of my mind that keeps turning my thoughts to the topic of Big Brother… Gonna have to spend some more time thinking about this one, I guess.

The YouTube blurb is as follows:

Police are asking for the public’s assistance in identifying two men seen attending the Sean Price concert at Club 77, Hamilton Ontario on Nov. 17th, 2006. This video shows the two males arriving at 11:14p.m. and are described as 1) male white, wearing a white horizontal striped shirt and a black/white baseball hat with the word “JOKER” on the front and 2) male white, short hair, wearing a shirt with the word “ROCAWEAR” on the front and “99” on the back. Anyone with information please call Detective Sergeant Jorge Lasso at 905-546-2458 or Call Crimestoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS.