Let's get this straight: A Winnipeg cop shoots an armed suspect who has just lunged at him with a weapon, and the result is he's called a racist, and a bad cop in the media and has his named dragged through the mud for years. Ultimately after an extensive investigation, his name is cleared.

But, when a cop kills an innocent woman while driving drunk - after a bunch of fellow officers let him behind the wheel - the police force from top to bottom is there to cover it up, and make sure that one of their own gets away with murder.

Apparently Winnipeg Police Chief Keith McCaskill testified that he told his officers to tell the truth about what happened that night. Did he follow up that request with a wink and a smirk?

Any credibility the Winnipeg Police had is gone, and it's not because of good cops like Const. Dennis Gburek. It's because our Chief of Police oversaw an incompetent and corrupt police force - and got promoted to Chief of Police. There is no justice in Manitoba.

Labels: Canadian Justice, Winnipeg Crime, Winnipeg Police

As Winnipeg suffers from yet another death caused by car thieves, the government continues to dither and deflect on the issue.

Justice Minister Dave Chomiak is demanding that the Federal government toughen the YCJA. It's a good call, it's definitely a necessary step to put a stop to this epidemic.

Chomiak is barking up the wrong tree. Rather than calling on the Conservative government to introduce the bill, he should be demanding his Federal NDP counterparts to vote for the bill. It's his Dipper buddies who are always watering down the Torie's crime bills when they're not voting against them.

Likewise, Chomiak should be concerned with whats going on in our own backyard foremost. The Winnipeg Auto Theft Suppression Strategy (WATSS) is obviously not sufficient as a deterrent or a prevention strategy.

Prof. Rick Linden, member of the Manitoba Auto Theft Task Force, sums it up best: "Just hours after being released, they'll be back doing it again. We thought that with youth knowing police are following them more intensely it would be a deterrent, but many of these kids aren't deterred at all. It's just part of youth culture in some areas."

The police can only act as a deterrent if the courts will hand down real consequences for the criminal. In the case of youth car thieves in Winnipeg, The Law is a catch and release program where the kids have no reason to fear being caught.

Gary Doer and the NDP need to take some new action on this still-growing problem. Chomiak's comment that, "We've now had several (stolen car deaths) and several is too many", does not instill a lot of confidence. Isn't ONE DEATH too many?

Labels: Canadian Justice, Conservative Party, Gary Doer, Manitoba, NDP, politics, Winnipeg Crime, Winnipeg Police

The Winnipeg Sun:

The National Anti-Poverty Organization has filed a legal challenge in Court of Queen's Bench against the Obstructive Solicitation Bylaw which took effect in 2005, banning public begging at locations where so-called "captive audiences" can be targeted -- at pay phones, transit stops and around banks, bar patios and taxi stands, among other such sites. NAPO and the Public Interest Law Centre -- a branch of Legal Aid Manitoba -- yesterday joined other social support groups in attacking the clampdown that they say is a wrong-headed move "making poverty illegal" in much of the city while violating human rights.

The error in NAPO's argument is that the bylaw does nothing to make "poverty illegal". It doesn't even ban panhandling. All you need to do is go to downtown Winnipeg to see that panhandling is still alive and well in this city.

What the bylaw does stop is those aggressive beggars who stalk their prey at ATM's and try to intimidate the rest of the population. The bylaw is not aimed at the down-on-their-luck types who find an intersection to solicit donations. Those are the ones who are usually fairly polite and don't have a problem when you say "sorry dude". It's aimed at the thugs who verbally and physically assault anybody who's not willing to hand over their wallet. When Winnipeg police see a panhandler using intimidation tactics on the general public, they need to be able to take that individual off the streets.

Aside from protecting the public from these few menacing individuals, the bylaw also will help to curb the poverty problem in Winnipeg. The bylaw allows for a sentence of up to six months to be handed down to aggressive beggars. A six month penitentiary term would give many of these individuals the opportunity they need to get help; be it with an addiction, mental illness, or even with job-finding skills.

Toronto is having the same problem with troublesome panhandlers that Winnipeg was having, until the bylaw was passed. Unfortunately for Torontonians, their city council has decided to take a more "holistic" approach, with an emphasis on maintaining "the rights and dignity of the urban poor".

The problem with Toronto's approach is that the victims of these aggressive and abusive vagrants are often those passive panhandlers who don't bother anybody. And "holistic" approach will only work with those panhandlers who need a hand-up; whereas the violent panhandlers are only looking for a hand-out.

Winnipeg Mayor Sam Katz should fight this to the Supreme Court if necessary. It's not a matter of the "human rights" of panhandlers, it's a matter of human rights for the rest of us who want to be able to safely walk down the streets of our cities without fear.

Labels: Human Rights, Ontario, Winnipeg Crime, Winnipeg Police

Last week I wrote a bit about local blogger Curtis Webb at WinnipegTheft.com. Curtis is under investigation for linking to a YouTube video that disclosed the names of a few of Winnipeg's notorious juvenile car thieves.

Curtis' bravery has been trumped by the brazen stupidity of Starblubber at WinnipegPunks.com. While attempting to vilify Curtis Webb as a criminal-linker, he gone and done the very act he finds so offensive; he identified the same three youths that Curtis is accused of IDing. I guess Starblubber was trying to justify his anger by posting a screen-shot of WinnipegTheft.com with the names visible, but the end result is a smoking bullet wound in his own foot.

The page was here, but since it was noticed by Curtis it's been taken down. I wonder why? Thankfully, Curtis grabbed a screen-shot of the screen-shot (still with me?) in question.

Also, the good folks at Google still have page in their cache. The cached version doesn't actually have the names on it anymore, because WinnipegTheft doesn't have them displayed any longer. How? Because Starblubber used an inline frame to display Curtis' site on his board. What an inline frame does is display another webpage inside the current page. Therefore, when Curtis had the so-called "illegal video" on his main page, it was also displayed by Starblubber's post. Seeing as the time-stamp on Starblubber's post is April 17th, at 10:47pm. If the "illegal video" was on Curtis' site after that time, it was also on WinnipegPunks.

The irony here is that Starblubber thinks that Curtis should be jailed for the longest term allowable under the law. I suspect Starblubber's opinion will change a bit now that his own innocence is depends on Curtis'.

Labels: Canadian Justice, Winnipeg Crime, Winnipeg Police, YouTube

Jon Gerrard is starting to get close to understanding Winnipeg's auto-theft pandemic. But with most problems in our society, the politically correct bullshit gets in the way of the truth.

Doc Jon is getting close to understanding the problem. He's a doctor, he should know:

"People with FASD have brains that are wired differently from birth and they have real difficulty understanding consequences," Gerrard said.

"Diagnosed early and given support, they stay out of trouble."

What Doc Jon misses is that serial car-thieves and FASD kids have something else in common: bad parents.

To suggest that theres a link between parents who are pounding hooch at the local tavern when their 8-months pregnant, and parents who don't care that their son just got convicted for their 200th auto-theft is not a stretch. A mother who drinks while she's pregnant does not care for the welfare of her child. If a family cares so little for the health of their child, why would they care anymore about the child's safety fifteen years later when he's involved in high-speed police chases?

While many parents of FASD kids genuinely care about the kids' future and well-being, there are also those who don't. Parents who are letting their kids criminally run rampant on the streets should be held responsible for their childs actions.

What Doctor Jon needs to realize, is that this problem will not be solved with social programming or bribery. And while the Manitoba courts have been sad and pathetic in dealing with the problem, the federal government has done nothing to improve the YCJA. Meanwhile, the Winnipeg Police, who do everything they can to stop these bastards, are losing the motivation to keep up the fight.

Labels: Canadian Justice, Liberal Party, Winnipeg Crime, Winnipeg Police

First Anita Neville got angry because Conservative MP Pierre Poilievre said Winnipeg streets "are ruled by guns, gangs and drugs". Neville was quick to demand an apology (link).

Now Councilor Harry Lazarenko, and NDP MP Judy Wasylycia-Leis (aka Judy Alphabet) are demanding an apology from Justice Donald Fraser for his comments about Winnipeg. At a sentencing in Kenora, Justice Fraser said "I am determined we are not going to allow Kenora to drift into the kind of thing we see in the North End of Winnipeg or in the downtown area of Regina."

Though the sentence is fair, the comments surrounding it aren't, said NDP MP Judy Wasylycia-Leis (Winnipeg North).

"We suffer from a mythology, usually by people who don't know better. This is by someone who should know better.

"It's very hurtful to the people living in the area," she said, adding the judge should apologize.

Veteran city Coun. Harry Lazarenko agrees, calling the comments "baloney" and unfair.

"It gives you a black eye. It's like you're condemned because you're living in the North End. To be lambasted, especially by a judge," said Lazarenko, who's lived in the area for over 50 years.

Well, here's a little FACTUAL information for anybody who's interested, courtesy of the City of Winnipeg's CrimeStat program.

From January 1, to February 20 this year, there had been two homicides in Winnipeg. Where? One in the North End, the other Downtown. Between these two districts, they makeup 100% of homicides in Winnipeg in the year 2007.

For the same time period, there have been 44 sexual assaults in Winnipeg's six districts. Of those 44, 9 were committed in the North End, and 16 Downtown, combining for 56% of sexual assaults in Winnipeg. The two districts also account for 55% of the robberies year-to-date in Winnipeg. Not to mention that Winnipeg is known as the murder capital of Canada (aka Killerpeg).

When two districts that make up approx. 33% of Winnipeg's population, but account for almost 60% of violent crime, it's time to acknowledge a problem exists.

What Anita Neville, Judy Alphabet, and Harry Lazarenko need to understand is that pointing out a problem, although it might be "hurtful to the people living in the area", it's still a fact. And the facts won't change just because you don't walk to talk about it. What's more "hurtful to the people living in the area" than saying mean things about their neighbourhood, is the violent crime that runs rampant in these neighborhoods.

People don't move out of these neighborhoods because some politician said bad things about it, they move because their sick of all the crime that they witness happening around them.

But Judy Alphabet and Anita Neville aren't able to acknowledge the crime problem exists, because they both voted against tough-on-crime measures proposed by the Conservative government. Which is a perfect example of why the NDP and Liberals are unfit to govern in this country. It's time to stop lying.

Labels: Anita Neville, Liberal Party, NDP, politics, Winnipeg Police

Now, I'm not one to pat myself on the back normally... but boy did I nail this one.

A police affidavit released yesterday confirms every bit of speculation I previously made regarding Daniel Ian Anderson.

The gun he used to fire on cops was not one of the guns locked up in the basement, his girlfriend said he kept a "short barrel hunting gun" (to me, that means sawed-off shotgun) in his closet.

The police officers identified themselves very clearly, so Daniel, a previous victim of a home invasion and an unwarranted beating (ya, right!) would not have thought it was another home invasion.

Daniel's loving father also admitted to police that Daniel "associates with gang members".

So to all of you illiterate assholes who called me all kinds of names, and held up Danny as some kind of hero after my last post: kiss my ass, and stop defending this loser.

Labels: Daniel Anderson, Winnipeg Crime, Winnipeg Police, Wish You Were Dead

Last week, three Winnipeg police officers were shot while executing a drug warrant. The suspect is Daniel Anderson, who police believe to be a "loose associate" of the Zig-Zag Crew.

Yesterdays Winnipeg Free Press, the defender of scumbags nationwide, printed a stunning story penned by Gordon Sinclair portraying Daniel Anderson as the victim. It's behind the subscription wall, so I'll copy the "best parts" here.

Danny -- the son his father calls the most caring and considerate of his three boys -- faces attempted murder charges following a drug raid late Thursday night at the Anderson's Fort Rouge home. Three police officers were shot in the incident and hospitalized.
(snip)
It would be 24 hours before his family would hear from Danny again. He called from the Remand Centre about 11 p.m. Friday night.

Danny was crying, his father said.

"The first thing he was saying was, 'I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I didn't know.'... He was concerned about his mother and myself and his girlfriend and he kept repeating, 'I didn't know, I didn't know.' "

What he "didn't know," according to his father, was that the people who rushed into the Andersons' house while Danny was there with his girlfriend and his mother were police officers executing a drug search warrant.

Poor kid, he was just trying to defend his mother and girlfriend - while he was blindly firing shots into their home.

But it's conceivable, given the suddenness of the event -- the pounding at the door and Bonnie Anderson's screaming as police burst in -- that Danny didn't hear them identify themselves before hiding in the main floor bathroom, from where he allegedly shot blindly from behind the door.
"He thought it was a home invasion or something," Monty Anderson said.

That could be understandable, given Danny's personal history in the same home.

Danny was at home, three or four years ago, his father said, when a group of men broke in reportedly looking for drugs and money.

The brothers and a friend managed to fight them off, his father said.

"You just don't forget stuff like that," Monty said.

But the 12 police officers involved in the raid Thursday would have no record of that event.

Monty said it wasn't reported.

According to Monty, he had three long rifles locked in the basement that are registered. If police had checked the registry, they presumably would have known about them.

One would think that should prompt the calling out of the better-armed and more experienced Emergency Response Unit.

But there's more to Danny's being victimized by violent people in large numbers.

About two years ago, the former Grant Park Pirates linebacker -- who stands over six feet and weighs more than 200 pounds -- was swarmed outside a Pembina Highway bar.

"They stabbed on his neck, on his face. They stabbed him in the chest."

Monty said his son was "in serious shape" after the attack.

"He was in the hospital for a week or two or three."

Those two incidents, Monty suggested, would be enough to spook anybody about large numbers of people suddenly breaking through one's door late at night.

Those two incidents also raise the question; Who doesn't report a home invasion to police? People with something to hide, thats who. I could understand, possibly, that the kids wouldn't want to call in the police, but what kind of mother and father would just let it slide by, when it was their own children who were attacked?

The answer to why police don't politely knock during drug raids, has to do with the element of surprise, and having a better chance of finding evidence before it is "flushed."

"Whatever they were looking for," Monty said, "it wasn't there."
Police asked Monty early Friday morning at the Public Safety Building if his son dealt marijuana from the house.

Monty said he told them not to his knowledge.

Coincidental that they found him in the bathroom then, is it not? You would also think that a father would deny the drug-dealing charges a little more vehemently, if he thought his denials had a chance of standing up under investigation. Update: Police have confirmed that drugs were found during the raid.

But, it should be mentioned, at least one of the Anderson sons is well known as a member of the drug underworld by young adults in affluent south Winnipeg neighbourhoods such as Tuxedo.

The Andersons' middle son, Darren, who turned 23 on the day of the raid, was arrested last January on drug and related charges and is expected to be released from jail at the end of the month.

Danny has no criminal convictions.

The reason his father contacted the Free Press was to stress that last fact.

"He isn't a gang affiliate or anything. He had some assorted friends who have gotten in trouble."

"People who know Danny know this isn't him," his dad said.

"He isn't a monster like everyone thinks," said his girlfriend of five years, Ashley Cochrane. "Anyone who knows Daniel knows this is not him."
His father echoes that: "Anybody who has ever met him has nothing but good things to say about him."

Now riddle me this; if the guns were locked up securely in the basement, as Daddy Dearest says, how did Danny have time to get to the basement, unlock the cabinet, grab a gun, load the gun, and still manage to get up to the bathroom and lock himself in? Or are we to believe that Daniel carries a rifle with him to the shitter?



A quick examination of the map of the house, raises some interesting questions. As the story goes, Danny was in his bedroom when he heard his mother screaming in the kitchen. He then promptly dashed across the hall, and locked himself in the bathroom.

Daddy Dearest says the guns were in the basement. As you can see from the map, to get to the basement, you'd have to go through the kitchen. The same kitchen where the cops entered the house. So clearly, Danny didn't fire the shots with any of the guns that were in the basement.

The other question that I'm just begging to hear an answer to is: Why run to the bathroom? If he truly thought it was a home invasion, his bedroom would have been a much safer place. I'll bet the gun was in his closet. And while his bedroom does have a window to escape from, the bathroom does not have a window. Why the bathroom?!

Even though Daddy Dearest is quick to point out that Danny has no prior convictions, his neighbors had their own suspicions (again, behind the Freep's subscription wall).

Numerous neighbours of the family said the back lane behind the house has received frequent vehicle traffic for the brothers throughout the day and night for the last decade.

Some said they had complained to police about the activity, but their complaints went unheeded.

One neighbour said Daniel Anderson simply stared at her when they encountered one another after she expressed displeasure with the nighttime traffic.

Since big brother was in jail on drug charges at the time of the shooting, I don't think it would be a stretch to think that Daniel had taken over Big Brothers operations while he was away.

Gordon Sinclair is at it again today, defending Danny's lifestyle. One neighbor recalled the house saying, "There was nice cars always coming there, Jaguars and other fancy cars that I admired. They had nice, beautiful girlfriends there at all times. I used to think how lucky they are. Tall, good looking. They have everything. You just never know what's cooking in your neighbor's home."

Sinclair defends this, by once again quoting Danny's father Monty, who seems to be Sinclair's only source on the story.

According to father Monty Anderson, 54, Daniel earned his living through online betting.

"He was into gambling," the elder Anderson told the Free Press. "He played on the Internet. Hold 'Em tournaments. Pro-Line."

In today's Freep article, Gordon Sinclair extensively quotes Daniel's defense lawyers (two of them), friends, and his father. Thats far from balanced reporting.

Also of note, today the Winnipeg Sun said Monty Anderson was unavailable for comment, yet Sinclair got an exclusive interview with him the day before. I find that a little too much to be coincidental. Especially after seeing how much blatant bullshit Sinclair has published on this subject in the last three days.

Labels: Canadian Justice, Daniel Anderson, Winnipeg Crime, Winnipeg Free Press, Winnipeg Police

Three Winnipeg Police Officers were shot last night, while on a drug bust.

Some 21-year old punk named Daniel Ian Anderson is responsible. His lucky ass is in hospital with non-life threatening injuries. Too bad he's not dead.

Labels: Winnipeg Crime, Winnipeg Police, Wish You Were Dead