RCMP Loot Flooded Homes

[nuvistors]

HIGH RIVER, Alta. - It's the high-calibre elephant in the room.

It has the prime minister's office talking. Ditto Alberta's top cop. Ditto the premier, who isn't happy this issue is consuming political oxygen.

Ditto the Mountie mucky-mucks.

Yes, the province steps in at the request of the mayor and takes over the recovery of this town of 13,000.

But as they're talking about those plans, newshounds pose puzzlers about the RCMP seizing at least several hundred guns out of people's homes after they'd been evacuated.

The RCMP confirmed what this scribbler reported Thursday.

Some folks moved their guns out of storage in basements and got them upstairs when the waters rose.

When the Mounties entered the houses later, they saw the guns and took them to the cop shop. They will be returned when the owners present the proper paperwork.

Still, some folks don't think the move passes the smell test.

Heck, it doesn't take long for the prime minister's office to respond.

Harper's guy says they "believe the RCMP should focus on more important tasks, such as protecting lives and private property."

Alberta's top cop, Jonathan Denis, does not go after the RCMP but says what they did wasn't on his orders and adds, "We have a whole town evacuated with emotions running high. We have to be sensitive to that."

MORE: RCMP admit they seized 'hundreds' of guns

Funny thing. All week in this town the cops briefed us thoroughly on what they were doing.

But they never mentioned the gun seizure in any of those official info sessions. Never.

RCMP Insp. Garrett Woolsey is asked why.

"Over the course of the past nine days I've been asked hundreds, perhaps thousands of questions. It's never come up."

But the Mounties told us all kinds of things we didn't ask about.

Did they realize it would be a political hot potato if news got out?

On Friday the RCMP tell us they entered every home they could and "during the course of those operations, naturally, our officers do encounter firearms."

"It appears, as best we can tell from being inside these homes, some people removed their firearms from secure storage and left them either with the intention of removing them from the home or putting them to higher ground where they would not be damaged or vulnerable to water," says the inspector.

http://www.sunnewsnetwork.ca/sunnews/straighttalk/archives/2013/06/20130629-070816.html

[karl*katz]

Would you rather they left the guns lying around for the real looters to take?

Or any kid who goes exploring?

[nuvistors]

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@karl*katz wrote:

Would you rather they left the guns lying around for the real looters to take?

Or any kid who goes exploring?

---

Is it not the RCMP job to protect homeowners from looters ?

The  real  looters   (if any) should be arrested and  charged.

The "kids" who go exploring should also be  collected and placed in a secure location until  claimed by their parents.

[nuvistors]

Many of these homes were secured and locked.

The RCMP simply broke in to loot.

[karl*katz]

If the RCMP could force entry then so could looters.

The average looter or urban explorer doesn't care if a building is secured or not.

[nuvistors]

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@karl*katz wrote:

If the RCMP could force entry then so could looters.

The average looter or urban explorer doesn't care if a building is secured or not.

---

You do not seem to understand that the RCMP  should be ther to prevent looting, not be doing the looting.

Is  "urban explorer"  the politically correct term for thief ?

[prior-of-verity*shake-hands-with-your-devil]

A thief never wants to give stolen items back. The cops will give them back. They probably even left a note saying they took the guns and where they could be picked up. (the legal ones that is)

[karl*katz]

Some Urban Explorers are thieves but not necessarily.

They are however tresspassers.

If you had a computer you could Google the term.

[karl*katz]

[prior-of-verity*shake-hands-with-your-devil]

A neighbor of mine had "No Trespassing" signs made up for his woodlot property (to keep hunters out). Someone came along and stole all the No Trespassing signs.

The following spring he had new signs made up and in the corner in small letters it said ........'This is a stolen sign'.

[karl*katz]

When I was a kid we would go exploring in abandoned buildings.

There were lots of abandoned buildings in London in the 1950s and 1960s.

Entire streets of them with signs up warning of bomb damage and possible unexploaded bombs but we went exploring anyway.

We just called it exploring though I don't know when the word urban was added to the name.

[pierrelebel]

"RCMP seizing at least several hundred guns out of people's homes after they'd been evacuated."

Let's think. 

How can this issue be spinned in such a way as to help the Conservatives win the next election? ;-

[art-in-the-making]

Good job by the police force!

Thank-you for bringing this to our attention nu.

What jumps out at me in this particular situation is the Harper PMO has no friggin clue what its job is - trying to tell the police what to do. Oh yeah, they just replaced the guy running it because he gave a $90,000 check to Sen. Mike Duffy. And the new chief of staff (in all seriousness) used to live above Harper's garage.

[prior-of-verity*shake-hands-with-your-devil]

How can this issue be spinned in such a way as to help the Conservatives win the next election?

"Harper Government saves guns from being stolen by renegade Liberal fish"?

[pierrelebel]

Blame it on the Liberals who introduced the gun control law in 1995 six years after the massacre of Ecole Polytechnique in Montreal as Mulroney would not do anything about it

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89cole_Polytechnique_massacre 

Shame on the Liberals.  Vote Conservative.  The only Party to defend Canadian values.

[prior-of-verity*shake-hands-with-your-devil]

Never mind, cancel that thought I just had. (this new edit button isn't all that bad)

[nuvistors]

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@karl*katz wrote:

Some Urban Explorers are thieves but not necessarily.

They are however tresspassers.

If you had a computer you could Google the term.

---

The instant your  "urban explorer"  takes something that does not belong to them they become a common criminal.

[kentworld]

And the new chief of staff (in all seriousness) used to live above Harper's garage.

Really?  Well, if that's the case, I doubt that person has a spare $90,000 to throw around.  My question is why all these journalist hacks are getting senator's jobs??

[rykkm]

Not sure what Mike Duffy has to do with this conversation. Regardless of the current Conservative stupidity in governing, IMO the RCMP did the correct thing here.

First of all, as a person very close to the flooded area, the first mistake was not ensuring the mandatory evacuation order was followed to the letter. Some individuals refused to leave the townsite, and as it was declared a disaster area, they should have been removed for their own safety, as well as those emergency management people who would have to risk their lives to save their sorry asses.

The army should have been called in to secure the entire perimeter of the affected area, locking it down to prevent any entrance other than by authorized individuals or agencies. As a precautionary measure, the RCMP checked all accessible building, collecting and cataloguing every single weapon found, so that it could be returned safely to the owner at the appropriate time. Some might view this as an attempt by the RCMP to "spy" on citizens, finding out if and what type of guns they have. But these were extraordinary circumstances. I am not a fan of tight government control on their population, a la 1984, but I have no problem with this under these particular circumstances.

I am unsure why Adrienne Clarkson was appointed Governor General. How does being a long time journalist qualify her as the Queen's rep in Canada? Ditto for that Separatist Michelle Jean. Sorry, but co hosting Take 30 doesn't apply for the GG position. I would have preferred Paul Soles anyway.

[stevephinn2012]

you have to realize on this board ANYTHING that is done in Canada is Harper's fault . This was a good thread until 2 "people" came along and tried to make it political. The same two (who say they have no political affiliation--hahahahahahah) will try and bash anything and try and put a Liberal spin on things and blame whatever they can on Mr. Harper.

for some reason they have control over these boards and can do and say as they wish and are the reason that there are only a few people still left on what used to be a thriving chat board!