Whether they’re just blowing off steam or actively planning some sort of premeditated retaliation, talk of vigilante justice among some Denare Beach residents has become prevalent enough to catch the attention of the RCMP.
It’s difficult to know how seriously to take people who go on Facebook to say things like, “If I catch that little SOB, he’ll wish the cops had got to him first,” or, “I’ll do what the cops aren’t willing to do” in reference to youth crime.
Meaning what exactly? That if you catch a 10-year-old boy rummaging through your car or garage, you’ll use his elementary-school-aged face as a punching bag? That you suddenly have the power not only of a judge and jury, but also of those old-school cops who liked to “rough ’em up” before an arrest?
Something tells me the would-be vigilantes of Denare Beach are all talk, but you never know.
Whatever the case, Creighton RCMP Sgt. Sean McPhee felt compelled to remind Denare Beachers that vigilantism is not only illegal, but also dangerous since alleged perpetrators could be high, scared and armed with weapons.
“If you’re going to tune some kid in, your friends might shake your hand and say, ‘Oh, good job,’ but you are now liable for that,” McPhee told residents gathered to discuss crime at the Denareplex last week. “And here’s my thing – and I’ve been hearing stories – what if the kid you tuned in isn’t who you think it is? What if it’s the wrong kid? Now what?”
Now what indeed. While the thought of everyday citizens taking justice into their own hands may appeal to the Charles Bronson inside of us, it leaves an awful lot of room for error. It means never having to produce evidence; never having to abide by the due process that is the foundation of our justice system.
I realize that the type of crime would-be vigilantes often reference is the truly frightening offence of home invasions. Some people are not “vigilantes,” but simply fair-minded people who want to know what rights they have when it comes to protecting their properties and their own safety. The answers they get are frustratingly vague.
The best answer to home invasions is to prevent them with good home security. There’s no longer any point in longing for the days when “you didn’t have to lock your door,” like so many people do. It’s now a choice between fighting what is and wishing for what once was.
But what about other types of crime? How much personal risk is it worth to apprehend or “rough up” a youth stealing loonies from your car? And if it’s at night and there’s a chase, can you even be sure you’ve doled out justice to the right perp?
And if you end up hurting a kid, innocent or guilty, then what? Will the vengeance-laced language you used on Facebook grant you a get-out-of-jail-free card?
The point here is not to defend youth criminals, or to excuse an imperfect social services and justice system, but merely to denote that the perils of vigilante justice outweigh the perceived benefits of “scaring them straight.”
Local Angle is published on Fridays.
