If you're not mad as hell, you should be.
Two men were killed and another man was injured in a shooting on Foothills Boulevard in the early hours of Wednesday morning. Prince George RCMP said the attack was targeted and the public is not at further risk, which is cop-speak for bad guys shooting other bad guys.
With all due respect, the police do both themselves and the public a grave disservice by assuring local residents they are not at risk. Increased crime, particularly violent crime, puts residents in danger of inadvertently getting caught in the crossfire, of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, through no fault of their own.
The people who get involved in gangs and are willing to settle scores by driving by a vehicle in the middle of the night and opening fire are not the brightest brains.
Instead of their intended target, what if they had emptied their guns into a car filled with family members heading home after a long night by the bedside of a dying relative? What if the people in the car were a young couple driving around in hope their collicky baby in the back seat would finally fall asleep? Or an exhausted doctor heading home after hours in surgery to save someone's life?
It's not if, but when, this will happen and then the community's outrage will be far greater than just being annoyed at not being able to use Foothills Boulevard for a day. People will be furious with police and politicians for allowing this travesty to happen, which is equally as wrong as just brushing off Wednesday morning's attack as some kind of public service, permanently dealing with two bad guys who would have clogged up the legal system.
As longtime members of law enforcement know, from police officers and social workers to lawyers and judges, there is no end to this cycle of violence. When two men are caught or gunned down, there are four others waiting to take their place. In fact, the uncertainty created in the black market after a major raid, seizure or roundup of bad guys simply raises the risk of further violence, as new players jockey for position.
That doesn't mean police shouldn't apprehend criminals, but the public needs to manage its expectations of what the police can do, under the law, to mitigate illegal activity.
It's as unreasonable for residents to expect the police and the judges to make a difference by getting tough on gang members as it is for individuals to believe they don't have to do anything but sit back and complain.
Instead of patronizing the public, police should be honest about the danger to citizens, particularly since these kind of attacks are often followed by equally violent and deadly retribution. Instead of making it sound like there is little law-abiding residents can do, police should, for the one-millionth time, remind residents to stay alert for suspicious activity and take the time to report it when they see it, however innocent it may seem.
We should never forget that serial killer Cody Legebokoff was pulled over for driving his pickup off a logging road onto the highway on a dark, snowy night. That peculiar but unthreatening event was enough for Cst. Aaron Kehler, who happened to be heading south from Fort St. James towards Vanderhoof, to turn on his lights.
The shooters behind Wednesday's attack were not worrying about whether they had the right vehicle, the right people or the risk to innocent bystanders. It seems they hit their intended target, but they could just as easily have missed, killing you or your relative or your friend or your neighbour.
If that doesn't rile you up, imagine the social cost to the families and friends of those involved, not just of the victims but the shooters, throwing their lives away in the false fraternity of a gang and the fake economy of the black market, leaving behind sons, daughters, mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters to live with the hurt and the shame of what they've done.
If you're still not upset, remember who's paying the bill of the public servants to investigate, apprehend, prosecute and incarcerate those responsible.
No matter how you look at it, we're all on the hook for what happened and for what happens next. These killings are not just a police problem, they're a public problem and the sooner the police share that responsibility and the sooner the public accepts its part, the sooner all of us can make a difference.
