Sunday, July 6, 2008

Homeless the movie

Thursday, June 26, 2008

Police chief seeks longer terms for chronic thieves - Vancouver Sun

Chu proposes '30 strikes and you're out' sentencing system

Rothwell said police research had identified 379 criminals considered to be chronic offenders.
The study found that:

- The 379 chronic offenders had an average of 39 convictions each.
- A quarter of them had more than 54 convictions.
- Ten had more than 79 convictions.
- Six of the 379 offenders had more than 100 convictions.

Rothwell said the incidence of property crime in Vancouver now dwarfs that in comparable jurisdictions.

"The property crime rate in Vancouver is more than double that of Toronto and more than double that of Richmond," he said.

Chu said factors considered in sentencing should not exclude the need for public protection.

"We owe it to the people of Vancouver and the victims of every property crime in the city to protect them from criminals who have decided that ripping off is the way they want to live their lives," the police chief said.

Letter to Editor of The Province

Re: Oppal not impressed by police video of alleged addict begging to be jailed, Article June 24, 2008

Attorney-General Wally Oppal implies that the police must be pulling a fast one when it comes to super chronic offenders when he says: “the video needs to be taken with a grain of salt. Here's a guy with his face blurred out. We don't know who he is…”. Then, instead of admitting what a terrible job he and judges are doing, he simply deflects all responsibility with: "I'm not sure it's productive to go around pointing fingers at everybody else, when there's enough blame to go around," Oppal said.

Oppal typifies everything that’s wrong with governance today. Mirror opposites of what Thomas Jefferson had in mind, the politician of the day hardly intends on serving the people, but are only concerned with preserving power and serving themselves. And not unlike the end of the Roman Empire, people are getting the leaders they deserve. Oppal and judges should be fired and held accountable for the losses they are contributing to.

But until the people of Vancouver demand far more, conditions will surely continue to deteriorate.

Louis Paquette102 - 2020 Comox Street
Vancouver, B.C. Canada V6G 1R9
(604) 687-5772
http://beautifulvancouvernot.blogspot.com/

Oppal not impressed by police video of alleged addict begging to be jailed - The Province

The attorney-general is not impressed with the Vancouver Police Department's latest salvo in its campaign against the courts.

The department yesterday released a video of a man they say is a chronic thief who walked into a police station seeking a lengthy jail term with addiction treatment.

"Nowhere else in the world, and nowhere else in history has a community had to face this kind of problem," LePard claimed.

The department's analysis of court records showed that a thief's initial crimes usually bring a sentence of around 100 days, but after the 30th to 35th offence, the sentences drop to 25 days, said Insp. Rob Rothwell.

"The justice system is doing a lousy job of protecting the public," he said.

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

City's 'chronic offender syndrome' unique, police say - Vancouver Sun

Crack cocaine addicts with more than 100 convictions remain on the street

Vancouver is the only city in the world with "chronic offender syndrome" where criminals with more than 100 convictions are still at large, capable of committing more crimes, say Vancouver police.

"No where else in the world faces this problem," Vancouver Deputy Police Chief Doug LePard said Monday, as police released an interview with a petty criminal who recently turned himself in after committing a break-in and asked for help in dealing with his addiction to drugs.

The man is in his early 30s and has led a criminal life since he was 14 and now has 26 convictions. He is well on his way to becoming a "super-chronic offender," said LePard.

Full Article >>

Friday, January 25, 2008

Hastings Street