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,22 ~ Wednesday, July 30, 1997 - North Shore News

Get serious on car cri

| cele and
j punishment

{ have written recently
of the rapid rise in auto
theft in our fair city
and some of the woeful
responses to the prob-
Fem by the attorney-
general’s ministry,

The stats are astonishing
for their meteoric rise, espe-
cially in the Lower Mainland.
| have yer to see anything
from the “powers thar be"
indicating they even have a
concept of the scope of the
situation.

The problem needs to be

arly identified. It’s not
simply a matter of tt
on average stolen every day
in the City of Vancouver.

North Vancouver,
Burnaby, Surrey and
Coquitlam add another 150
per week to that total. {t's
noc the more than $200-mil-
lion ICBC will cough up to
pay for the problem this year
or what private insurance car-
Sers will pay.

The problem is exacerbat-
ed when the thieves
inevitably try to run from the
police. is when the sitna-
tion switches from a matter
of dollars and cents tea mat-
ter of life and death.

Too often though, ic’s nor
the car thieves whose life gets
taken in a crash, Too many
times it is innocent parties

happy minding ther own
tireiiess, wher sera: out
getting fis olhes runmins
trom the cops blows s threnwh
anuht and enteks up

Phe attorney genent
reventiy brought an |
Gon nasing the hae for run
ning trem the police from
$300 to $300. T have te
wonder how long it took tor
Nosangh and his mandariny to
think that one up, Peuess a
couple more stolen C1 play
ers Ought to cover the extra
tine very nicely

The attorney generat calls
this a “non-vieient” offene
and, as such, the offender
should not get sentenced to
jail.

I would agree with this
for the first offence, provid-
ing ne motar vehicle accident
is involved. It is at this point
the system feeds to Kick in
and provide the requisite
counselling dl steady hand
tor the offender io ensure
there are no repetitions.

However, I strongly dis-
agree when it comes to those
who are before the courts for
the tenth, ewentiech oc thirti-
eth time, These individuals
represent the majority
thieves arrested. They are the
problem, This is where atten-
tion needs to be focused.

The bottom line is if the
consequence is nor harsh
enough, repeat car thieves
simply keep getting on the
judicial merry-go-round.

A few we
Coquidam was exp
an average of 35 car thetts
per week. On June 11,
Coquidam RCMP shot and
wounded one such thief who,
with several friends, was try-
ing to escape from the police
by running the officers over.

Hey einpticd therm weapons
sabe ine stolen Jeep
Cherokee, stopping tt before
thes sertet be the speeding
\ clin te

‘Tao teenage thieves were
injured by the guatire. All
were seared withess. In the
week tullowing, Coguithim
car ett. dipped te nine. A
significant tedaction from the
catlier Wwerdze. Sure the
number
bur they ar
near the pre shooting levels.

Am Tsaggesting the
potter shoot au all car thieves?
Hardly. The circumstances in
that case were sch that the
cops feared for their fives at
the hands of these “nan-vie-
lent” offenders.

Phe vehicle's driver, who
was wounded by police bul-
lets, was, at the time, on hail
Awaiting tlabona charge of
breaking and entering, anoth-
er of Dosanjh’s Sauon-violent”
offences. The Young
Oftender’s Act prevents me
or any other journalist from
naming the individual, who is
“well-known” to police

Pam suggesting that when
a serious consequence is felt
by those who couldn't give a
toss for the law or the citi-
zens it was designed to pro-
tect, the atticude changes
dramatically, The conse-
quences currently being seen
by thease who continually run
atoul of the law are simply
not serious. A convicted car
thief on probation gets
arrested in another stolen car
and gets more probation.
Probation on top of proba-
dion, At some point, you
would think the Crowa and
the judiciary would master

y abvious,

Apparently not.

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