Front line letters

An excerpt from a police officer's blog, in response to the pleas by rioters for clemency

Dear 2011 Vancouver Stanley Cup Rioters,

Please stop saying you’re sorry. Stop posting YouTube videos begging for forgiveness. Stop writing letters asking that society cut you some slack and leave you alone.

While you were drunk and flipping cars, I was driving with all of my emergency equipment on to get into Vancouver. While you were throwing anything you could get your hands on at the police, I was pressure testing my APR and standing in the middle of the tear gas. While you and thousands of others disgraced Vancouver and its surrounding population, I stood shoulder to shoulder with a couple hundred men and women, whom I trust my life with, ready to address your indiscretions.

You came up to me like you owned the streets in your drunken stupor, thrust your middle fingers in my face and shouted obscenities; I didn’t snap you in half.

Actions speak louder than words.

You started “harmless” fires. You torched other men and women’s cars whom you’d never met and never did you wrong. You assaulted firemen as they arrived to try and deal with your “mistakes”. You took limited, valuable emergency resources away from good people who needed them. You endangered more lives by tying up emergency services than you ever considered.

You started fights. You stabbed people you’d never met because they somehow made you angry. You gave men and women trying to protect property life altering concussions. You brought paramedics into the tear gas and exhausted them trying to save people they’d never met.

You showed up to hospital emergency rooms crying because you’d been exposed to tear gas. You got obnoxious and demanded to be treated like you were somehow dying. You knew it was a riot, you chose not to leave, you chose to stick around and breathe the tear gas in. You took nurses and doctors away from people who needed their care to live. People they’d never met but work tirelessly to save. You demanded to be treated as if you were better than the rest of society.

You’d tell me that the emergency services personnel I speak of are paid to do this job and chose to be there. You’re right. We give a damn about people we’ve never met and property that isn’t ours, that’s why we do what we do. You disgust us.

What brought a tear to my eye, after the gas had cleared, was standing in the middle of an intersection at about 3 a.m. the only people I’d seen for the last 30 minutes were other police officers, until a shop keeper brought us a case of water. Then I saw a random person with a broom clearing the sidewalk. I had a duty to respond, the citizens of Vancouver immediately afterward could have just left it up to those paid to deal with it. They didn’t just stand by, they came out in force and cleaned up after your indiscretions. Everyone I saw that early morning thanked me, I was only doing my job. I have the utmost respect for all of the people from Vancouver and the surrounding areas that came downtown and volunteered to clean up after you.

You owe Vancouver and the surrounding population more than mere words. Don’t you dare ask for our forgiveness without taking responsibility. You can’t fix life altering injuries with an “I’m Sorry”. You can’t repay someone’s car loan with a YouTube video. You ask that people leave you and your family alone but you offer no way to replace priceless losses.

You’ll sleep soundly in your bed tonight because men and women like me will always be there to deal with your poor choices. You have no idea how fortunate you are, even after we arrest and charge you. Even though you disgust me, if you call for me in the middle of the night I’ll respond. I’ll protect your life and property because it’s right and it’s what I do.

The evening of June 15, 2011 fellow emergency services personnel, my brothers and sisters, left our families at home and while grossly out numbered stood to fight. The morning of June 16, 2011 the true heroes emerged to volunteer their time and restored my faith in humanity.

Actions speak louder than words. What are you going to do about that?

— a police officer from the suburbs, who was called in to serve and protect on that night; a proud Vancouverite.

Let's remember the true face of our city.

Clean up our city and our reputation

This post is mostly pictures. Please enjoy the images that prove Vancouver is not the images we saw Wednesday night.

Hundreds took to the streets to clean up our fair city

The wall of sorrow, where thousands posted the morning after

The shadow of these riots will linger for a long time, but at least we were able to witness a bright, positive aspect to our city, and to humanity. We are not always destructive and violent. When pushed by what we see as wrong, or degrading, many more than I believed, step up to make a difference.

Good job Vancouver.

I'm apologising, but what for?

And now for more on the riots.

As a disclaimer, I have no interest naming and shaming. Whilst effective as a deterrent, it serves only to cause mob justice towards otherwise innocent people, as this post will show. The links contain names, for that I cannot control.

Read the apology of a teen involved in the riot. This particular young man received some ardant vilification following the posting of a photo of him trying to set a police car on fire, and having it posted on the public shaming blog that arised after the riot.

In his apology, he apologises to all those in his community around him. His father is a doctor in the town that they live in, and accordingly he has suffered from some of the backlash that this has caused. My sympathy lies totally with his parents. I am sure that they never taught there son to behave in such a way, but because of his actions, his family's reputation has been brutally tarnished. His father's rating on an internet website allowing you to review your physician has dropped dramatically, although it appears that site will adjust the reviews accordingly.

His family will live in the spectre of their sons behaviour for a long time. He had to close his practice for a few days to stem the bombardment of phone calls that the vigilante justice squad was making. Don't get me wrong, this young man made a grave error and should be punished soundly, but his parents are now the unfortunate victims of his maligned behaviour.

Vancouver burns, but learns anonymity in an age of social media is impossible

In the wake of Vancouver's unsuccessful attempt to capture the Stanley Cup for the first time in their 40 year history, the streets were blighted by the grip of a few bottom feeders, aided by peer pressured youths and gawking crowds.

In reality, only about 10% of the crowd were actually causing any trouble, by overturning any unfortunate vehicle, porta-potty and garbage bin in their path. Several troublemakers showed up with gasoline, and I imagine it was not in case their car ran out.

But what of the other 90%? Thousands and thousands stood by and watched as willful and wanton destruction took place. Many recorded and photographed what they saw. A select few intervened but were quickly, and brutally, beaten down, for their attempts at being a Good Samaritan. To those, I feel truly sorry.

However, I am very concerned by the number of onlookers that remained in Vancouver's downtown during the events. How many burning cars and smashed windows do you need to see? Some people claim they were 'stuck' downtown. A ludicrous claim at best. Sure, it might take a longer walk, but if it means leaving the scene of a terrible crime, then do it!

Looting is the most brainless form of theft, thinking that the anonymity of the crowd means that stealing is more acceptable, because the 'item' was right there in front of you. Needless to say, the Louis Vutton bags on Craigslist the next day were more than likely stolen the night before.

Not to get into a legal lesson, but once the police have read the riot act, which they did in Vancouver on Wednesday night, you have the time the police have allowed to disperse and head home. Staying in the group now constitutes a crime, and the Vancouver Police Department gave rioters 10 minutes to disperse. As we saw on the night, many did not follow the advice.

Now the VPD has said that from all those pictures and videos taken, responsible citizens should identify those involved to help rounding up those responsible. Vancouverites have taken to the task in an unbelievable way. Mutliple groups on Facebook now exist to identify and shame those involved. One rioter had his Facebook status become so infamous, that he ended up trending on Twitter. Type in Brock Anton on Google or Twitter and you will see.

Tomorrow, I will talk about the efforts made by the brighter side of Vancouver to clean the city, and make some kind of recompense for the damage done by those intent on destruction.

L.A. Noire

Thanks to my friend Zac, who you can follow at iwasa16bitboy.blogspot.com, I started to play L.A. Noire. The commercials for the game made it out to be almost a movie, as it contains some new facial graphics that really brings the characters to life.

You play Phelps, a seemingly clean cut LA Police Officer who served in the Marines during the Second World War. You start out as a beat cop, but this is merely to introduce you to the intricacies of the game. Phelps is destined for more than mere beat work, and soon becomes the new hotshot detective.

The detective work has the feel of old school point and click games, such as Monkey Island and Full Throttle. You use these clues to piece together the evidence needed to bust the suspect when you interrogate them. Interrogation is mainly focused on the new facial graphics engine, which is superb. From the persons actions and expressions, you must determine whether to believe them, press for more information, or straight accuse them of lying, if you are able to back it up with evidence. The let down at this point is that despite how you do, you will still eventually come to the conclusion the game wants you to.

The open world environment is detailed, but seems almost pointless as you hardly spend time roaming. Unlike GTA, where mindless violence and driving are almost meaningful to the game, in L.A. Noire you are a clean cut cop, and clean cut cops do not run civilians down. Sorry to break it to you.

The gameplay feels repetitive, especially as you really can't go that wrong. The graphics are at the forefront of this game. I highly recommend playing it, however, as I believe this represents a new step for gaming. If they could develop this into a more open ended game, with your actions have repercussions on the outcome of the game, you could be looking at a new standard for console gaming.