Nine Burnaby residents are among the first 60 people who police are recommending a total of 163 charges against after a Monday morning Vancouver Police Department press conference announcing new developments in the Stanley Cup riot investigation.
Vancouver Police Department Chief Const. Jim Chu said in a statement that police made a decision the day after the June 15 riot to "do the right thing."
"We decided then that we owed it to the victims of this crime and the outraged people of our community to do the right thing," said Chu. "That meant we were making a commitment to pursue the rioters and to use new approaches to identify them and to bring before the courts the full extent of the crimes committed by each rioter to ensure the most serious sentences."
Chu said the integrated riot investigation team, made up of eight police agencies, has done an incredible job handling the largest investigation in the city's history.
"It's been daunting, time-consuming and exhaustive," said Chu. "The decision we made on June 16 has led us to today. I am very pleased to tell you that we have been arresting suspected rioters and recommending charges to Crown counsel. So far, 60 people have been identified, and we have recommended that each of them be charged with participating in a riot, along with other charges of mischief, assault, break-and-enter and other charges. There are a total of 163 charges recommended for these individuals."
Chu also cited several cases where new technology helped the police during their investigation.
In one case involving a 21-year-old Burnaby man, DNA collected at the scene was the key piece of evidence.
"Investigators were able to collect DNA from blood left at the scene of a breakand-enter to a sporting goods store in the 900 block (of) Robson (Street)," said Chu. "This man is known to police and has a previous criminal history of trafficking drugs and crimes of violence. We were able to arrest this man at his home.
"With our new capabilities in locating targets, we were able to find this same man in a number of other videos. In the 700 block (of) Robson (Street), he was seen punching a random unknown victim in the back of his head. This victim was knocked out and fell to the pavement unconscious, as our alleged suspect ran off into the crowd. A separate video was located showing the man running into and looting a store while obscuring his face with his shirt," said Chu.
"Prior to our analysis at the LEVA lab in Indianapolis, those that masked up might never have been identified. But because of the over 15,000 criminal acts tagged in our video database, we are now able to identify suspected rioters from different locations and videos," said Chu.
The police recommended to Crown counsel charges of assault causing bodily harm, break-and-enter, disguise with intent to commit an indictable offence and participating in a riot against the 21-yearold Burnaby man.
Crown counsel must now approve the charges in court before the suspects face an arraignment hearing in which they can plead guilty or not guilty.
www.twitter.com/AlfieLau
