Lack of resources, inspector says
Sep 25, 2008 - 03:10 PM
By Keith Gilligan
AJAX -- Several vehicles were broken into in a north Ajax neighbourhood early Tuesday morning and one lady is upset at the police response.
Shelley Ferron said cars in her driveway and those of two neighbours were vandalized, as were some vehicles on nearby streets.
"My car was broken into and my husband's car was stolen," she said.
Her husband works for a pharmaceutical company and there were drugs in his vehicle. "There's nothing to get high on," she said, adding the medicine includes items to treat eczema.
"No car alarms went off," Ms. Ferron said. "I call the police, but no one came. They took a report over the phone. They said they'd send someone over to do fingerprinting and no one came."
She called the police at 9 a.m. about the break-ins, she said. At 9 p.m., she called police again and asked to speak with a supervisor. Ms. Ferron was told only two to three officers qualified to gather fingerprints are on shift.
"They said they'd send someone out if we wanted, but they didn't come," she said.
"There's more demand for SOCO (Scenes of Crime Officers) than we have on duty. We have to prioritize them. A home break-in is more of a priority than a car," said Durham Regional Police Inspector Steve Ross, the top officer at the Ajax-Pickering station.
"Unless there's specific evidence, generally we don't send them to those incidents," he said. "Unless there is forensic evidence there to collect, we just don't have the resources to send to every incident. We have to prioritize."
"These car entries are a problem to everyone," he said. "We try to educate the public on these things."
Using the axiom that "an ounce prevention is worth a pound of cure," Insp. Ross said people can take measures to prevent theft. "If possible, lock your car in the garage. If not, make sure it's locked."
Also, leave a light on or have a motion detector installed. "Don't leave anything of value in the vehicle, especially wallets or any ID. Don't leave those things in the car overnight."
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