SOME municipal police departments and RCMP detachments in the Lower Mainland, apparently to avoid bad publicity, have now and then tried to suppress news about shootings and other violent crime incidents in their jurisdictions.
If they are exposed, they come up with lame excuses such as announcing the incident would jeopardize their investigation.
REALLY? In this age of social media?
All that this DISHONESTY does is spread fear and confusion as all kinds of unofficial reports spread like wildfire — until the cops are forced to admit the truth even as the public loses faith in them.
The latest example is that of Ridge Meadows RCMP in connection to two shootings that targeted an east Maple Ridge residence in the 12400-block of 266 Street that belongs to a prominent figure in the Punjabi music industry.
The first shooting occurred at around 3 a.m. on May 30 and the latest occurred at around 2:20 a.m. on Wednesday, June 18. In both cases, several shots were fired at the house and police say no injuries were reported.
As The Abbotsford News put it: “The information came to light after multiple neighbours posted comments about the latest shooting online.”
If police had reported the first incident to the media, they could have garnered a raft of tips from the public. In fact, that could have possibly prevented the second shooting.
The same thing happened in Surrey where the Surrey Police Service kept two shootings targeting the same house on May 14 and May 26 under wraps.
Did the Ridge Meadows RCMP and the Surrey Police Service receive instructions from their top officers to keep it a secret so as not to make them look bad?
How will this make the public — especially the residents or workers in the affected neighbourhood — feel secure?
Premier David Eby and Attorney General Garry Begg should instruct ALL police jurisdictions to IMMEDIATELY report ALL violent crimes, especially those involving shootings to ALL media — and not wait for the media to learn from social media and rumours, and then have police respond to ONLY those who contact them. They should HONESTLY issue a press release.
This POLICE DISHONESTY must end!
