Serious Questions About “Citizen’s Arrest” and Canadian Policing

I find it disturbing that the changes to the Criminal Code in Canada were put forward by Olivia Chow, the NDP MP from Trinity-Spadina.

At first glance, the legislation seems to make sense.  Olivia Chow is from an urban riding and there are hundreds of corner stores just like the one that David Chen, the man who’s now famous for making a citizen’s arrest, runs.  These people become voters and donors, both of which are critical to one’s political survival.

It seems very reasonable that if a repeat offender comes into my store, I should be able to ‘arrest’ this person and hold him on the spot.

Until what?

Until the police come?

Aren’t the police supposed to be there in the first place to help with this kind of activity?

Why aren’t they there to help out Canadian citizens in need?

And why are we re-writing the Criminal Code to give them a further excuse to not show up to a crime scene?

Here’s the REAL question that’s bugging me:  Why are we changing the rules to basically enable vigilante justice?

Now, here’s an even BIGGER question: what’s the point of paying about one-third of my property taxes to a police force that’s no longer doing the job it’s supposed to be doing?  If I’m a stupid tool of a member of the public that believes the myth of ‘smaller is better’ when it comes to public affairs, this is powder for my flint and provokes me to ‘Tea-Party Rage’ when it comes to other myths of waste and fat that exists in City Halls across the country.

And the BIGGEST question of them all:  if we’re enabling vigilante justice, aren’t we just another small step from ‘privatizing’ the enforcement of our legal rights?

This is a frightening development for those who enjoy a free and liberal Canadian environment, where people believe they can walk the streets without having to fear our ‘security’ forces (note:  no longer police forces).

And just to top it all off:  what’s truly frightening about this evolution in Canadian legal and criminal society is that this change was brought about by an NDPer.

What a shame.