Support David Chen

Petition backs store owner charged after thief tied up

This is an outrage. If the police must exercise "triage," as they put it, to such an extent that criminals are allowed to victimize local businesses on a regular ongoing basis, then obviously there are not enough police on the force or else they aren't doing their jobs. Citizens trying to make an honest living are thus left with no other recourse than to perform a citizen's arrest. If this right is removed as well, criminals will rule the streets!

I know about neighbourhood blight from personal experience. I lived in Southern California (including Los Angeles) for many years, and most of the entire region has descended into gangland central over time. The first step necessary for this nasty downward spiral to occur in an area is for police to be too understaffed and/or apathetic to perform proper neighbourhood patrols when local crime is on the rise. The second is for its citizens to fail to take action against it, either due to not realizing the severity of the problem in time, ignorance of their rights (such as citizen's arrest), being stripped of their rights (as in this case), or later, hopelessness and/or fear of retribution from the criminals. This is how it starts. And frankly, I have found it impossible to explain to Canadians who have lived in Canada all their lives, just how truly bad it can get.

If you're not shocked and dismayed by this recent turn of events with Mr. Chen, you should be. His stripped rights are your stripped rights should you ever be victimized by crime. Even an effective, well-staffed police force can't have an officer on every corner - so if victim's rights are taken away, and the police continue to be ineffective, that's the beginning of the end for your neighbourhood. Take it from someone who knows.

God help us all if we're going to be expected to stand idly by while we or other law-abiding citizens are being victimized.

If you haven't yet signed the online petition, I encourage you to do so. It calls for a clearer definition of citizen's arrest, defence of victims' rights, and for the charges against Mr. Chen to be dropped, amongst other things.