Giles Oland and his girlfriend Dawn MacPhee discovered what one expert calls “Halifax’s dirty little secret” on a Friday night last October. The couple, in their late twenties, spent a relaxing evening enjoying dinner with friends at a downtown restaurant. They stopped for a nightcap at a bar on Argyle and then, at about 1am, started heading toward their homes on Tower Road in the city’s south end. They walked up Blowers Street to Pizza Corner and turned left on Grafton. “Right in front of the Black Market, there were five or six individuals who surrounded us and kicked me in the stomach and then punched me in the face,” Oland says. “It was a very surreal moment for us because we didn’t expect it. They gave us a look like, ‘You’re not going to get by here’,” he adds. “It was more a feeling of disbelief than anything else,” MacPhee says. “Just total shock that someone would be laying a hand on either one of us when all we’re doing is walking up the street to go home.”
“We soon realized that we weren’t getting by without further violence,” Oland says, “so we turned around and walked across Blowers Street to Pizza Corner and we were only there maybe five or 10 seconds when I looked down Blowers Street and saw a marked police Durango slowly driving toward us. When it got to the corner, we approached it. We told the cop that we’d been assaulted and tried to get across our sense of,” Oland pauses, searching for the right word, “our sense of worry about what had just happened and we asked him to do something.”
To their surprise, the officer told Oland and MacPhee there was nothing he could do. “We more or less started pleading with him to do something,” Oland says. “Eventually he asked which group was it and we pointed out the perpetrators to him and again he said there was nothing he could do. And we said there’s gotta be something you can do.”
MacPhee is still angry at the Halifax officer. “He could have put us in the back of his cruiser and driven us one block up the street and dropped us off on Spring Garden Road and everything would have been fine,” she says. “I see it as a failure on his part that he didn’t put any effort into protecting us.” Instead the officer promised he’d keep an eye on them. But as MacPhee and Oland crossed Grafton Street, he abandoned them and drove off toward Spring Garden Road. “Everyone saw us talking to the police, which escalated the situation I think,” MacPhee adds. As the couple headed toward the Spring Garden Library, they suddenly faced a much larger group of hostile young people.
Dalhousie professor Chris Murphy says stories like Oland and MacPhee’s illustrate Halifax’s “dirty little secret,” the high rate of violent crime in a relatively small maritime city. “I’ve had at least five or six students over the last two or three years talk about being seriously beaten up or one of their friends being seriously beaten up in downtown Halifax,” Murphy says. “We’re talking about people who were hospitalized, broken jaws, broken arms, not just simple scares or rough-ups, but quite serious assaults in places like the Commons, Spring Garden Road and other parts of downtown.”
Murphy, who’s been studying crime patterns for a quarter of a century, points to a Statistics Canada study called “Criminal Victimization in Canada, 2004.” The study, released last fall, is based on a survey of nearly 24,000 Canadian households. It shows Halifax had the highest violent crime rate among the 17 Canadian cities surveyed, with 229 violent incidents for every 1,000 people over 15. Edmonton was second with a rate of 191, while Saint John scored 173 and Toronto and Vancouver, 107 each.
Murphy wishes city politicians and police would make our crime rate less secret by talking about it more often. “The kind of crime that is increasingly disturbing,” Murphy adds “is what is euphemistically referred to as street assaults or swarmings. These are quite a distinctive kind of violent crime because they occur in public places and they’re unprovoked in the sense that the victims are innocent and often unconnected with the offenders.”
A search of newspaper archives and police crime reports quickly turns up dozens of such assaults—so many that they seem to be part of the city’s daily routine. Some are more memorable than others. In two separate incidents last spring, for example, young thugs, each wearing one boxing glove, punched and robbed female victims in the city’s north end. A Halifax musician ended up unconscious in hospital with head and back injuries after being beaten, kicked and robbed last summer on the Halifax Common. A Dalhousie soccer player underwent three emergency operations last fall for uncontrollable bleeding after being punched in the face and robbed in the downtown core. Two elderly victims were beaten and robbed this spring as they returned to their north end apartments. One, an 82-year-old woman, was rushed to hospital with a broken arm as well as shoulder and facial injuries. Sometimes the incidents aren’t reported to police because victims are embarrassed or fear further attacks. But news of them spreads by word of mouth: a young man jumped by kids and punched in the face; a young woman knocked off her bike with a two-by-four and another assaulted with a bicycle chain.
The incidents happen all over the city. A Nova Scotia Supreme Court judge called a highly publicized swarming at Pizza Corner in 2002, a “barbaric…act of senseless brutality and violence.” Up to 15 assailants kicked and punched a man in a series of unprovoked attacks. They also pelted him with rocks. The victim needed 15 stitches to close a gash in his mouth and five staples to repair a wound in the back of his head. The court heard that he still suffers from headaches and memory loss. In August, when he sentenced two women to jail time for the attacks, judge Joseph Kennedy called the assaults “absolutely, completely, uncontrolled, mindless violence. Gratuitous, stupid, mindless violence.” He added that crimes such as this are making people afraid to walk the streets of Halifax.
Professor Murphy says what makes these violent incidents “both troubling and puzzling” is that although there are sometimes thefts involved, money isn’t the main motivation. “There usually is nothing much to gain other than the sheer pleasure of intimidating victims and causing other people to be hurt,” he adds. “On the surface, it looks like neither the municipal government nor the police have figured out a way to respond to this effectively yet.”
Murphy says the Oland and MacPhee incident illustrates a phenomenon that those who study crime call FIDO. The acronym stands for “Fuck It and Drive On,” although during our interview, Murphy refers to it more diplomatically as “Forget It and Drive On.” He says it reflects the sense that not much can be done about this kind of crime, so police simply drive away.
“I’m not saying that the police aren’t concerned, but we haven’t seen any kind of clear response other than their hands are tied by the Young Offender’s Act,” Murphy says, referring to the often-repeated argument that young people flout the law because they know they won’t get punished severely even if they are caught. Murphy says it’s time that municipal politicians and police sat down with community leaders and ordinary folk to discuss a range of solutions, including a greater police presence in potentially dangerous areas, more recreational alternatives for young people and heightened public awareness of violent crime.
Giles Oland and Dawn MacPhee still have trouble coming to terms with what happened after the Halifax police officer abandoned them at Pizza Corner. The couple crossed Grafton Street heading in the direction of the Spring Garden Library. As they passed in front of St. David’s church, they encountered a group of about 15 young people. “A big fat woman got off the wall and kicked Dawn in the stomach and Dawn went flying towards the parked cars,” Oland says. He was surrounded by a half dozen young men who started punching him in the head. “The next thing I know I’m on the ground, I’m on my side and I’m just holding my head and I’m just I guess what they call ‘boot fucked,’ getting my head kicked. You’re lying on the ground and you wonder, could this go on forever?”
“There was a big commotion of people around me,” MacPhee says, “keeping me away from what was going on with Giles.” The attackers said nothing as the beating continued. Then, after about 30 seconds, they fled, fearing perhaps that someone had called the police. “All of a sudden everyone just kind of dispersed,” MacPhee remembers. Some of the attackers jumped in cars, others just seemed to vanish. Oland remembers raising his head and seeing MacPhee limping toward him. “I realized I was just gushing blood everywhere,” he says. “The two of us were sort of staggering around,” MacPhee says. “I remember feeling completely upset and scared and worried about Giles and just in utter disbelief at how this could happen.”
Frank Beazley steps from behind his
big desk and extends his hand in a warm greeting. The chief’s spacious office is upstairs in the ugly, red-brick fortress on Gottingen Street that serves as police headquarters. The building may be intimidating, but the silver-haired Beazley is not. Instead of barricading himself behind his big desk, he sits down in an office chair and speaks in a quiet, clear voice about his work as the city’s top cop.
“Speaking from a chief’s perspective, I lock up about 5,000 to 7,000 people a year,” he says in his kindly way. Beazley acknowledges he’s disappointed that the latest StatsCan study ranks Halifax as Canada’s most violent city, but he admits he isn’t surprised. “Halifax historically has been in the top five or six,” he says. “But no one wants to be number one, especially for things like this.”
The StatsCan survey numbers are higher than the department’s own figures because only about a third of violent assaults are ever reported to police. But Beazley says the department’s figures do show that the city’s violent crime rate has risen over the last couple of years. He adds, though, that about 70 percent of violent crime involves what he terms low-level assaults. “Most of it’s driven by the very nature of our community. We have universities, we have 30,000 to 40,000 young people move in every fall and leave in the spring. It’s a port city. It’s a military base. There’s about 200 licensed establishments east of Robie Street in the downtown core. So with all of that and all the activity and all the people, that sometimes drives our numbers up.”
Beazley acknowledges that the StatsCan study points out that young people, and especially students, are particularly vulnerable to violent crime. StatsCan reports that’s because young people participate in more evening activities such as going to bars or visiting friends. Beazley explains it’s the first time away from home for many university students. “They’ve got a pocketful of money and they start getting into parties,” he says. “They get into the downtown area and they get into fights. So that’s what drives your victimization numbers up. As the study tells you, the profile of people who commit these types of crimes and the profile of the people who are the victims is almost the same. They’re people ages 14, 15 to about 23.”
Beazley has been a Halifax cop for 36 years and he knows the city well. “Back in the ’60s, Halifax was like a lot of other cities,” he says. “The business core was deteriorating. Businesses moved away. What saved the downtown was really the entertainment industry. But that brings a different clientele into the downtown area.”
Lately, Beazley has been talking more openly about Halifax’s dirty little secret. In February, he told the Halifax Chamber of Commerce that police are studying the emergence of six new street gangs that didn’t exist a year-and-half ago. Gang members are between 12 and 22, he said. “A lot of these young people that are in these groups come from areas of poverty and public housing,” he tells me. “They’re people who may be on the social welfare system, from single-parent families.” Dealing with street gangs and other youth crime, he says, involves providing better recreation for young people, educating them about crime and using what’s known as “community-based policing.”
“From the policing side, we’ve changed our whole patrol strategy in the past year,” Beazley says. “We’re calling it our community response approach to violence and crime. We’ve narrowed down the geographic areas of patrol. We’re calling sectors and we’re putting patrol cars into smaller geographic areas so they get to know even better.” There are five sectors or zones in the city’s central area, for example. Much of the downtown from Spring Garden Road to North Street and from Robie to the Halifax waterfront falls within zone four.
The chief also acknowledges the importance of getting officers out of their patrol cars more often so they can talk to people on the street. “That has to enhance the sense of safety when people get to know officers better. That’s why we have the new bicycle beat patrol. It’s almost like what was old is new again.”
The bicycle patrol consists of two officers assigned during daylight hours to downtown Halifax and Dartmouth. As for beat patrols, the department says officers are walking beats in the Gottingen Street “uptown” area 24 hours a day. Another officer has been assigned to patrol a beat on Spring Garden Road at varying times, five days a week. And a “community response” officer patrols north-end Dartmouth. Meanwhile, the department’s business plan calls for another foot patrol in downtown Halifax as well as additional foot and bicycle patrols in north-end Dartmouth.
Beazley looks uncomfortable when I ask him about the officer driving away from Pizza Corner on the night that Giles Oland and Dawn MacPhee were assaulted. Oland says he has discussed the incident informally with various members of the police department. He asked to speak to the officer involved so he could find out why he drove away, but says his request went nowhere. Chief Beazley says it’s hard for him to comment because he doesn’t know the details of the case.
“The downtown core is just so busy on most nights of the week and I can remember myself working it in the mid-’90s and there would be 400 to 500 young people down in that particular area coming and going,” Beazley says. “You’re kind of watching out for the bigger group and you’re trying to prevent something like this from happening as well as investigate complaints when you get a call,” he adds. “What I would have said to those folks if they weren’t satisfied with the police approach that night, they should have come in and filed an official complaint with me so I could have a look and see if we did do something that wasn’t correct.”
On the day that I meet Mayor Peter Kelly in his office at City Hall, the Daily News carries a huge front-page headline in capital letters: “RANDOM ACTS OF…VIOLENCE.” It’s a direct quote from provincial court judge Jamie Campbell, who denied bail to two teens, 14 and 15 years old, after hearing about a series of violent attacks the weekend before in Dartmouth. Two men had been stabbed and two others badly beaten by what appeared to be a roving band of youths sporting blue bandanas similar to ones worn by a gang in Los Angeles. Only two of the victims were robbed. The newspaper quoted the crown attorney as saying one suspect told police “they just liked hitting people.”
Mayor Kelly frowns when I ask what goes through his mind when he sees stories like this. “For me, it’s concern for communities within HRM,” he replies. “Concern for our residents and concern for the approach that the courts have applied in the past.” The mayor explains that judges have generally been too lenient with young offenders, sometimes letting them go free even after they’ve broken the terms of their probations and committed fresh crimes. Kelly says he’s glad that in this case, the judge refused bail. “It’s a very positive sign to me,” he adds. “I now see a desire of the court to be more responsive to these types of situations.”
Kelly says the city is responding to violent crime partly by hiring more police officers. Until now, new officers have simply replaced retiring ones. But in October, the force will be getting 16 extra cops. Kelly also talks about the increased emphasis on community policing with more cops walking beats. He says he’d like to see the federal government bring in stiffer penalties for young offenders and he wishes the province would provide financial support for municipal
policing. (Kelly may get part of what he wants if premier Rodney MacDonald’s new government keeps its recent campaign promise to provide financing for 250 more officers across the province over the next four years.)
In the meantime, Kelly says the city is developing partnerships with social service agencies and schools to provide more recreation for young people as well as arts and after-school programs. The mayor insists the city is taking violent crime seriously. “Should we be doing more?” he asks. “Yes we should. Are we going to be doing more?” he asks again. “Yes we are.”
Councillor Dawn Sloane, the municipal politician who represents downtown Halifax, is also a big fan of community policing. She supports Chief Beazley’s new patrol policies. But she also says residents themselves need to do more about crime. “I see our neighbourhoods around here as almost becoming close-curtained because society has come to the conclusion that we’ll let the police handle it. I don’t think that’s how we should be living,” Sloane says. “I think people need to reclaim their communities and say, ‘I live at Pizza Corner, but I live upstairs. If I hear something, I’m not just going to ignore it. I’m going to take a look and see if I can help.’”
Sloane says the city should consider installing surveillance cameras in areas like Pizza Corner, an idea the mayor and Chief Beazley also mentioned. “I don’t see a problem with it, to tell you the truth. Because you know what? If you’re doing something wrong, then you’d get caught. If you’re not doing anything wrong, what does it matter?” she asks. “The amount of times that you’re actually caught on camera in a day, just think about it. You’re going across the bridge, you’re going to a bank machine, you walk into any mall or any government-owned building, walk into a hospital. You’re on tape at all these places. So having one on a corner which is known as a dangerous area, I don’t have a problem with that at all.” Sloane recognizes there would be opposition from people concerned about protecting privacy. “I hope people understand that to make sure an area is safe for everyone, sometimes you have to go to that extreme,” she says. “I would rather have everybody safe and pissed off. It’s as simple as that.”
Sarah MacLaren, who’s been working with troubled teens for more than a decade, doesn’t mention surveillance cameras as part of her preferred strategy for dealing with violent crimes. For the last six years, MacLaren has served as executive director of a Halifax non-profit group called LOVE. The acronym stands for Leave Out ViolencE. MacLaren argues that kids who take part in swarmings and assaults have usually been the victims of violence and abuse themselves and are angry about it. “Our kids are wandering around with tonnes of pain and anger,” she says. “We try to get at the root causes. We ask kids ‘What were you really mad about when you beat that person with a hockey stick?’”
One teen who joined a gang in north end Halifax told MacLaren he had no family support and no friends but the gang made him feel part of something. “Race definitely raises its head in our town,” she adds. “We are not a racially integrated city.” Sometimes that sense of frustration and racial isolation erupts in violence against innocent bystanders. “We’re not going to do a lot by taking punitive measures,” MacLaren says. “Kids need support programs, education programs, et cetera.” They also need more affordable housing and job opportunities, she says. Most of all, she believes, they need to be consulted. “I’m in love with teenagers. The kids people cross the street to avoid. They know what they need, but we rarely ask them. We don’t really consult with the population we’re supposed to be trying to help.”
Police and paramedics arrived at
Pizza Corner within minutes and drove Giles Oland and Dawn MacPhee to the hospital, where they spent 15 hours in the emergency department. MacPhee sustained a few bruises but Oland’s injuries included a broken nose, two black eyes, severe facial swelling and damaged shoulder ligaments. Oland, a member of the famous brewing family who runs his own business called halifaxwireless.ca, was unable to work for a week. He spent the time in bed popping painkillers and has since undergone physiotherapy for his shoulder. Still, he feels his injuries could have been much worse. At the hospital, he saw two men with broken jaws who, he believes, had also been beaten that night at Pizza Corner. “These people,” he says referring to the young people aged about 17 to 25 who assaulted him, “weren’t down there eating pizza. They weren’t out at bars or coming from restaurants. They were there to hurt people and that was their only goal.”
“I know I can’t walk around this city at night,” MacPhee says. “I get in a taxi now.” Oland says the assaults he endured at Pizza Corner took his freedom away. “I don’t go downtown to eat anymore,” he says. “I’ve only been downtown to eat once since then, maybe twice.”
Professor Chris Murphy says that when people stop going downtown because they don’t feel safe, it makes things worse because the streets are abandoned to troublemakers. “You should feel comfortable going downtown on Spring Garden or going to the Jazz Festival or down to the Buskers’ Festival without being worried about whether you’re going to be jumped by five or six kids,” Murphy says. “I don’t have all the answers and I’m not sure any one person does. That’s why we need to bring people together both within government and outside of government to discuss this problem and develop a strategic response. You can’t guarantee absolute safety, but surely there’s something we can do to take back those streets, those spaces and make them public again.”
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This article appears in Jun 22-28, 2006.
During the wave of swarmings that occured last year, my boyfriend and I were jumped in front of the doors of our north end apartment building. The walk we took was less than 300 meteres, yet it happened, in an area with lots of light, and supposedly protected by cameras. Protecting downtown is a great idea, and I wholly support the cause, but cameras at Pizza Corner won’t be enough.
During the wave of swarmings that occured last year, my boyfriend and I were jumped in front of the doors of our north end apartment building. The walk we took was less than 300 meteres, yet it happened, in an area with lots of light, and supposedly protected by cameras. Protecting downtown is a great idea, and I wholly support the cause, but cameras at Pizza Corner won’t be enough.
During the wave of swarmings that occured last year, my boyfriend and I were jumped in front of the doors of our north end apartment building. The walk we took was less than 300 meteres, yet it happened, in an area with lots of light, and supposedly protected by cameras. Protecting downtown is a great idea, and I wholly support the cause, but cameras at Pizza Corner won’t be enough.
I don’t feel any officer of the law should ever take the attitude that there is nothing they can do. Assault is a crime! Even if they took the time to qustion these youths thay probably would have prevented the second act of violence from occuring. The problem, it would seem is not just with the violence in this city but the attitude of law enforcement as well.
Regarding the article “where the sidewalk ends” can you publish an article on the “young offenders act” please? We need to know what we are up against in Halifax. Does the young offender’s act for instance allow young people to take offense to this, to rise up from their ranks and set a shining example. Can we have a young vigillante in Halifax for instance to do what the metro police are afraid to do? Maybe there should be a bounty set on the heads of such swarmers, for all those who bring in a verifible assaultant with wittness names should get say $100, what is that, an hour and a half of detective work? Well worth it for our young vigilanties! Let Halifax call for our Hamlet to take arms against a sea of troubles!
This article not only quenched my curiosity about the rise in violence in this city but also raises awareness. It’s very informitive and I appreciate the effort in getting the questions answered. When I first moved here in 2000 I felt I could walk anywhere but it’s not until you have lived here for 6 years that the secrets come out. I do walk but with caution and keep my eyes and ears open. These kids can not win the battle and must be brought to justice. Keep up the good work Bruce!
Two years ago, after enjoying a night out, my girlfriend and I were also attacked by a group (girls and guys) on Pizza Corner. When it happened, we were also shocked and unable to fight back. It was the last thing we expected when rounding the corner to get hit with rocks and punches. Luckily, a group of our friends were close behind and intimidated the group. Nothing ruined my pizza more than having some some fat ugly bitch in a track suit spray spit all over it while in my face threatening me. It took a while to get over being angry and upset. But, I still enjoy pizza after a night out, I just keep both eyes open to what is happening around me.
Two years ago, after enjoying a night out, my girlfriend and I were also attacked by a group (girls and guys) on Pizza Corner. When it happened, we were also shocked and unable to fight back. It was the last thing we expected when rounding the corner to get hit with rocks and punches. Luckily, a group of our friends were close behind and intimidated the group. Nothing ruined my pizza more than having some some fat ugly bitch in a track suit spray spit all over it while in my face threatening me. It took a while to get over being angry and upset. But, I still enjoy pizza after a night out, I just keep both eyes open to what is happening around me.
Re: Where The Sidewalk EndsWell, we’ve been debating the swarming problem all evening, with responses from “I’m rewiring a cattle prod” to “Those kids need counseling” but since I’m the most heartless one in our discussion group, I’m submitting my own 2 cents:Police: There should ALWAYS be officers at Pizza Corner after dark. All this talk of zones, etc., is absurd. It is the absolute top place to run into trouble in the HRM: thousands of drunks and punks every night. On a Saturday morning around 1 am, where the hell ELSE should cops go first??Civilians: Watch out for the gangs, and go armed. “Bear repellent” is a thought if you’re soft-hearted, knives for the rest of us. Try to avoid groups, don’t let them circle behind you. Most of them are looking for easy fun, and if you look like too much trouble, they’ll often leave. But I realize that when you’re caught, you’re caught- and not every situation has an out, which leads to the most important plea:Bystanders: Don’t be afraid to get involved. Help people. If you’re strong or have numbers, stop the assault. Injure and maim as necessary. I’m not a cop, and I have no qualms about vigilantism in this responsible context. Mr. Oland tried to get cops to help him- look what happened. If my friends and I had been nearby, we could have stopped it. If you have the power, use it. If you can’t risk that, call 911 on your cell, and make some noise. I don’t expect suicidal behavior, just the willingness to run a little risk to help others.I know I have an irresponsible attitude about this issue, and that violence begets violence, etc. Nonetheless, I don’t ultimately care what troubles the youth had, or what their anger is in response to. There are many people who went through the same shit and managed to find the willpower not to hurt innocents themselves. Once you attack a stranger on the street, your own life is forfeit. If police won’t help, we have to do it ourselves. Worry about the courts later- that’s a coward’s excuse. If you let somebody get badly hurt because you’re afraid to get involved, I sincerely hope you never sleep soundly again.
That police officer they approched should be fired or face criminal charges for not doing his job. Whether or not the courts properly punish these people has nothing to do with him carring out the duties of is job which I might remind these police THEY ARE GETTING PAID TO DO by me you and the tax payers who were uassaulted that night. I am tired to hear them blame the courts. The leagal court procedings take place after the officers do their duties and whether the agree or not on the results of such does not give them an excuse to not do the job that you be and the victems have paid them to do.Very Angry Tax Payer
I think a lot of these kids commit these crimes simply because they feel they can get away with it. The solution is simple. We need to increase the police presence and most importantly, repeal the Young Offenders Act. Teenagers who commit violent crimes are of an age where they should know better, and should face the same consequences as an adult offender. Especially given the nature of the crime.
That Police officer is a disgrace to the uniform he wears. If someone goes to an officer and says “I’ve just been assaulted, and there are the people who did it”, that officer should put down the Double Double, call for backup, and arrest the cowards!! Lodge a complaint against him, HPD knows who was driving what cruiser each night, and they don’t have many police trucks.
That Police officer is a disgrace to the uniform he wears. If someone goes to an officer and says “I’ve just been assaulted, and there are the people who did it”, that officer should put down the Double Double, call for backup, and arrest the cowards!! Lodge a complaint against him, HPD knows who was driving what cruiser each night, and they don’t have many police trucks.
If a few of the swarmers die, what’s the big loss? Take ’em out!
I don’t understand why the cops don’t flood the downtown are with extra officers on the weekend nights. Most major cites can do it and even smaller ones like Moncton post officers right on the sidewalk with paddy wagons sitting around the corner to take away the trouble makers.On a related matter, what is with all the young “thugs” being allowed to hang around on Spring Garden between Jennifers of NS and the Lord Nelson. Park Lane, Tim’s and McDonalds plus the office building with the large open area across the street at the corner of Brenton are overrun with these punks who are up to no good at all. There is something wrong when a city looks the other way at this behaviour and even more so when those running businesses in the area aren’t concerned about safety.
Halifax Police would rather throw people in the drunk tank or pass out traffic violations than help victims of violence. There needs to be zero tolerance for these menaces to society that are ruining the downtown scene.
I am tired of hearing about these cowards that swarm. I don’t care if they are just kids, they should face adult penalties when it comes to violence !! Letting them get away with it only creates more violent cowards. So what do you do when you are out at night? If you carry a weapon you will be charged, if you use the weapon good luck at pleading self defence when it is pre-meditated.I am tired of hearing the same old excuse from police when it comes to street violence, theft, property damage, etc. They never seem to do anything until it is too late and then what they do is usually not enough. But just barely go over the speed limit and they are right on you. Useless.Put cameras in all public places, get more police out on foot especially at night, hire armed security guards if there are not enough police to monitor these busy areas, get rid of this stupid Young Offenders Act – everyone should be held responsible for their actions no matter what their age !! When I was young I stayed out of trouble because I was afraid of going to jail as there was no Young Offenders Act back then. But I was attracted to being in gangs and wanted to be tough, probably because of being picked on or because of movies like “The Warriors”, “The Outiders”, etc that made it seem cool. But even the bullies in my time did not swarm and beat you until you needed to be hospitalized, they may have came in numbers but only one would fight you until you were down, then a couple of kicks later they laughed at you feeling superior then left. It all comes down to consequences and without any breeds chaos.
Is there no way of repealing the Young Offender’s Act? There are several tourist hotels in the immediate vicinity of Pizza Corner. One of these days a tourist will be attacked, maybe the cops will see things differently then. They don’t seem to care if local residents get beaten up by these punks.
This is a problem that is trickling down into our school system as well. It is about crossing bounddaries and getting away with as much as possible. When youth see that this behaviour can happen downtown right in front of a cop, they see it is easy to do it at their schools. School administration, police, parents all “work on it” but ultimately nothing is accomplished. What is the point in having experts in sociology, crime studies, pshycology, etc. if no one knows anything useful. Lets take public money away from those programs and put more military on the streets. If this isn’t a call for zero tolerance, what is?
This is a problem that is trickling down into our school system as well. It is about crossing bounddaries and getting away with as much as possible. When youth see that this behaviour can happen downtown right in front of a cop, they see it is easy to do it at their schools. School administration, police, parents all “work on it” but ultimately nothing is accomplished. What is the point in having experts in sociology, crime studies, pshycology, etc. if no one knows anything useful. Lets take public money away from those programs and put more military on the streets. If this isn’t a call for zero tolerance, what is?
This is a problem that is trickling down into our school system as well. It is about crossing bounddaries and getting away with as much as possible. When youth see that this behaviour can happen downtown right in front of a cop, they see it is easy to do it at their schools. School administration, police, parents all “work on it” but ultimately nothing is accomplished. What is the point in having experts in sociology, crime studies, pshycology, etc. if no one knows anything useful. Lets take public money away from those programs and put more military on the streets. If this isn’t a call for zero tolerance, what is?
I’m absolutely disgusted after reading this article. Police are there to protect and for them to stand by and do nothing in this particular case is inexcusable. Sure, they may have felt like they couldn’t do anything to the thugs who assaulted these two innocent people, but they sure as hell could have protected them by driving them home. And people wonder why people take the law into their own hands sometimes, looks like it might be the safer bet!
in the interest of full disclosure: i have been an innocent victim of unprovoked black violence at pizza corner in 1997. i am also a come-from-away who hasn’t seen institutionalised racism anywhere else in Canada the likes of which i have seen in halifax since moving here in 1997. white and black people who have grown up here talk casually and matter-of-factly in unflattering ways about each other that i can’t understand and don’t hear in the multi-racial cities in the rest of Canada. all that being said, i’m curious why the article “halifax’s dirty little secret” made only a passing mention to race when discussing its homegrown violence. i have only anecdotal evidence and the experience of myself and the other people (of a variety of races) that i know. of those of us who have either been victims of, known victims of, or have been witness to violent crime nearly 100% of us were victims or witnesses to violence perpetrated by select mebers of the black community. other races surely have criminal elements within their own ethnic groups in halifax, but i am confident that if such statistics could legally be collected, a vast majority of the initimidation, street crime and assaults in the downtown core are perpetrated by a select few black youth, most likely already known to police and probably regulars to the justice system. it would seem to me that this is what really makes this problem “the dirty little secret”, because race is almost certainly a factor but no politician or public official (or even regular citizen for that matter) dare approach it using these terms for the offense it causes. for example, if we were to publish this story again, with all interviews conducted as they were, but asking the races of the perpetrators and the races of the vitims, what would we find? the facts would be no less true than they are without race included -halifax has a problem with youth crime- but we might also learn a thing or two about who is being attacked and who is doing the attacking. no one is saying, least of all me in this note, that youth street violence is uniquely perpetrated in halifax by black people, but at the same time i don’t think we can have a frank discussion about the issue of street crime in halifax without somehow acknowledging some certain realities of the situation. like the great philosopher chris rock once said : “everything white people don’t like about black people, black REALLY don’t like about black people.” maybe it is a time for a pilot project like the one in kingston (i believe) where police collected racial statistics for one year on all police traffic stops. perhaps if the city were to collect racial information of both victims and attackers for one year, perhaps we might learn some facts that might enable us to have a frank discussion about what is happening. is the justice system failing the black kids going through it? or just the law-abiding citizens outside of it? what efforts are the other communities making to help the black community deal with problems with violence from its youth? are they being receptive to such help? what more can we all do to make sure crime is less appealing to everyone, but especially young blacks? i don’t claim to have all the answers, or know what to do, i just know that by not addressing race in this discussion, we are simply ignoring the elephant in the room.
Beazley is the problem! I brought this gang/swarming issue to Mayor Kelly and Beazley in 2002 and ongoing.They refuse to respond and I was often abused by police to stop calling them about this gang.The NS Police Commission also has protected Beazly and Sykes on this issue by refusing to investigating them on outrageous negligence to protect the poorer communities. I brought it up again when Kelly started talks on bullying after the young man took his own life to stop the abuse. I have sent numerous letters to Kelly begging him to come to the North End of Hailfax to deal with posse and police abuse. The police are the problem as they are the first line of defense.You know a lazy cop by the ones who blame the YOA.I sat on a YOA amendment conference and not one person was confused about the seriousnes of the task to be responsible to community outrage while rehabilitating the youth who are offending.To blame youth, a disempowered group and the Act is the only thing Beaxley knows how to do as he is about hiding dirty secrets, not dealing with them in an intelligent and meaningful way.Gangs and posses are NOT new to Halifax, they are new to Beazley and Kelly as the National Report card failed them for having the most violent CDN city. Now all of a sudden this issue is all new????They are trying to blame the YOUTH for their own classism and deliberately hiding this and many other dirty secrets.I am making all informatiosn public via a new website http://www.responsevoices.blogspot.com.I will eventually post the POLICE COMMISSION documents and the page after page of police misconduct in many areas including youth and gangs.
It was Sarah M of LOVE that sits in the category of enabler of youth violence. I contacted her a few years ago on a particular violent youth who had beaten up many smaller children in my community.He had been the instigator in the swarming against me in 2002 swarming against me that included 20 people,adults and youth, and a bat. The police took 2.5 hours to respond to teach me another lesson I do not seem to learn and they picked a fight with me right after the swarming.They went out of their way to discourage me from prosecuting all 20 Blacks and both police and crown invented a drug addict witness for me despite my telling them there had been no witness for me and all kinds of fabricated ones for them. When I found out this very nasty youth belonged to LOVE I thought they should know that he was not representing their group in a positive light.Sarah was very dismissive and I could tell she was not about holding these youth accountable for their actions. To steal a great phrase from an incredible youth worker, ‘she is tired of the ‘hug-a-thug- programs’ and LOVE is one of them.I know they have done great things with some kids but to excuse, dismiss or reduce the damge these youth do is to enable this violence to continue. It is exactly why we are having this discussion.
In December of 2005 I was attacked by 4 black males at pizza corner. I didn’t realize how badly I was bleeding until I saw my female friends white jacket, it was covered in blood. An ambulance came for the guy that attacked me. I was told by a passerby that the guy broke his hand when he attacked me. A cop drove up to where I was standing and asked if I was ok. He never got out of his car, but he could easily see the blood all over my friends white jacket. My response wasn’t the best one I could have given, “Do I look like I’m f**king alright?” the cop then drove away without another word. I was in shock and outraged that the other guy was getting medical attention instead of handcuffs and I was offered no medical assistance. I took myself to the hospital. I had a broken jaw, in several places, and I needed reconstructive surgery.I have headaches, memory problems, and problems with my mouth and jaw since the attack. My doctor keeps saying that there is nothing that can be done. On July 8th I decided to go out with some friends and we ended up going to pizza corner afterwards, much to my dismay. While there I noticed a large police presence, I think it was because of your June 22nd article “Where the sidewalk ends” and the letters posted in your July 6th edition (volume 14 number 6) in the “Letterhead”. As I walked into one of the pizza shops, I noticed the guy that started the attack on me. He was no more then 5 feet away. I quickly left the shop and asked one of the cops why this guy was still on the street. After explaining what had happened to me back in December the cop asked me to point the guy out, so I did. The cop then started ignoring me and when I refused to let it go, he finally responded with “there’s nothing we can do” he then walked away from me to join the other cops, who were just standing around, some even looked scared to be there.Since I was attacked I have noticed that the HRM police force is good at playing traffic cop. I’ve seen them issue speeding tickets, giving out citations for no safety sticker, and if your parking meter wasn’t feed in the past two minutes you’re getting a fine, even if you are walking to the meter with change in hand. The HRM police took the same “To Serve and Protect” oath as every other police officer. They have the “Serve” part down pat, they seem to have no sympathy for people when money is involved, but when it comes to the “Protect” part, well, you might as well enroll in some form of martial art because you have a better chance of protecting yourself, that and you already know that no charges will be laid against you.I can see several solutions to the violence in the downtown Halifax core. One of the quickest things Chief Frank Beazley could do is to start using our Emergency Response Team (HRM’s version of SWAT) downtown on Saturday nights. I ran into one of the guys of this unit at a Tim Horton’s last summer. I asked him what it was like being on a SWAT team. He said it was a lot of training and there were very few calls a year, but the pay was good and the hours were better then a beat cop. Since these guys are seemingly bored and on a salary anyway, why not use them? These cops are much more intimidating then the ones that are at Pizza corner now and then those regular cops could be out in other areas. This solution wouldn’t really cost the city much since the ERT is already on salary and the odds of a call for the ERT on a Saturday night is low, unless it’s to pizza corner anyway. This may seem like a martial law thing, but really, who would it hurt beside the bad guys? The other solution would be Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras. These cameras are in wide use through-out the world and have been proven to reduce crime. These cameras could be installed in high crime areas to start with and then the network could be enlarged as more funds become available. These cameras are used for many things, from violent crime prevention to traffic crime prevention. These cameras could even be used to raise funds for more cameras by issuing speeding tickets, which would also help reduce the amount of accidents in crosswalks. I know a lot of people would think of this as an invasion of privacy, but, you are in a public area and there would be notices around, oh, and you would be safer. Also, you are already on camera every time you go to the downtown core anyway, why would a few more times matter? The only time the information would be used is when you break a law anyway. The people that complain about this either have something to hide or they have nothing better to do but complain.Canada really needs to take care of her citizens. Hiring more police officers is nice but we need to look into other options. We already have most of the resources needed. We just need people that know how to use them. Stephen Harper states that “This Government will tackle crime“. But will his proposed changes actually decrease our crime rate? Will the Honourable Vic Toews make changes to our departments of justice? Will he force judges to impose proper sentences on violent crimes? Will Premier Rodney MacDonald stop talking about making changes and start making changes? Will Chief Beazley force police officers to start acting like police officers? Or will we, as citizens, have to start protecting ourselves?
Great suggestions Owen and sorry to hear about your ordeal. I too was swarmed by about 20 Black people and a bat. The police took 2.5 hours to respond to my 911 then came in my home and started fighting with me, thankfully I had a witness and they change their tone real fast but this is what they did to me for 3 years so I would not charge Black people, in public housing for outrageous racial violence.The crown is equally responisble but again Kelly has known about all this since 2002 and has REFUSED to investigate his own police force yet he knows about how police and crown are botching cases that involve Black on non Black crimes. When the police finally did get to my home that night of the assault they said ‘what the heck was my problem now’.They went out of there way to talk me out of filing charges and invented a witness for me after I told them there were none.The witness they got for me was a drug addict who made up a story that eventually contaminated the case.Some of the perps were charged and the youth were off scot free due to a scared white judge in the path of a Rockey Jones race card.I requested a new judge they ignored me.The adults in the matter never went to court as I ended up in the hospital due to the outrageous abuse I endured from Black racial violence and a corrupt police and crown office. The Human Rights Commission and Ombudsman Office is keeping this from the NS public. Every case I had in courts against Black perps was contaminated in one way or another and charges dropped. In the last one they did not even have any of our 5 witnesses there and invented one for defense who admitted he wanted to harm my son and I with a knife. He was let go and weeks later attacked and robbed an elder couple: he is now doing 6 years. This is not just a PIZZA CORNER issue, this is all over HRM where there is weak and lazy police.I hold the NS Judicial system in contempt for blaming YOUTH for their FAILED report card and for allowing racial violence to get so out of control that we are in state of emergency. I really think your SWAT idea is the best for the situations as we really need to have a force,any force not afraid of race dynamics and we most definitely need a police chief not afraid to do police work.He will always be the problem as he is now the problem and has been for years. Lets not be shocked that when we have a lazy self serving chief police then all else is substandard too. Any new system will work when the police want it to work. They create their own work and business. This way they look like the martyrs saving Metropolis when they choose to save the day.
NINETY PERCENT of the people who get hurt downtown, instigate and aggrevate in some fashion. As the saying goes, “talk shit and get beat down”. I’ve stood on that corner since `94 and anyone whos spent time down there knows me so ya know i dont lie. VERY FEW of you are innocent victims. HYPE AND ONE SIDED STORIES.. twists on real events.straight from “the block”.
Who ya talking to J BLOCK this is Gayle from N BLOCK and you are the only one spewing hype…I am yet to meet a thug who can stand on their own but got all kinds of mouth with a posse of other losers…and you still run…like little rabbits…your words are words of enabling and excuses…talk shit you get beat down? how pathetic…no doubt some do instigate but not 90% and if you are there that much what are you doing to provoke it?
Police officers should learn Wu Shu by default and recite KarateKa vows to protect each other and the needy, :)!