On October 9, 2009, the Calgary Sun’s Nadia Moharib reported that suspected gang member Alex Soza was arrested by the Fugitive Apprehension Detail at a high-risk traffic stop. Sgt. Tony Manning said that Soza was not disguised but was hiding from police due to a drug-related shooting in Lethbridge that has led to multiple assault and robbery charges. The shooting was in February of this year and Soza was arrested and charged about a month later. Calgary’s Fugitive Apprehension Detail unit has been at work for about a year-and-a-half, during which they have caught many of criminals. The unit seeks criminals who are dangerous, avoiding the police and have an active warrant. Moharib’s article did not use specific statistics, but rather generalized the number of people arrested by the Fugitive Apprehension Details unit. She quoted Manning, who could be considered an expert since he is a police sergeant. Although most of the article is about Soza, the conclusion is about the success of the unit. Again, the media is supporting the police force in Calgary and emphasizing facts that suggest they are doing a good job. Thus, Soza’s story is being shown as an example of this success. Clearly, the media is in favour of the police. There seems to be a tendency towards reports on gang-related incidents and how the city is addressing and solving the issue, but there is not much about the difficulties they are having. It is likely that more articles promoting their successes and advocating for more officers will be written.
Moharib, N. (2009, October 9). Police collar suspected gang fugitive. Calgary Sun. Retrieved October 19, 2009, from http://www.calgarysun.com/news/alberta/2009/10/09/11352571-sun.htm
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Nine Alberta Men Charged in 1.5 Million Dollar Cocaine Bust
On October 21st 2009, Michelle Butterfield released an article in the Calgary Herald informing readers that five Calgary men and four Red Deer men had been charged with the trafficking of vast quantities of Cocaine. Butterfield mentioned that a total of eleven kilograms of Cocaine was found, and that the nine arrested supplied the drug to street gangs and criminal organisations all across Alberta. It was said the success of the capture of each man had come from an investigation that had been ongoing for a year by the Calgary Combined Special Forces Unit. No statistics were used, but Butterfield fully named each arrested man, stated their age, where they were from (Red Deer or Calgary), and specified how many charges each of them faced. She also explained that eleven kilograms of Cocaine was worth a 1.5 million dollars street value, which I felt was a good idea to mention because, to most readers, eleven kilograms doesn’t necessarily mean anything if they aren’t aware of the price that Cocaine costs, giving them a better understanding. Like the general conclusion drawn from my other Gangstar members, I think that this article has slight subjectivity to it because Butterfield chose to add the opinion of Inspector Kevin Forsen, who stated that the arrest of these men would impede activity of the gangs that were supplied with the Cocaine.
Butterfield, Michelle. (2009, October 21). Nine charged in cocaine trafficking bust. Calgary Herald. Retrieved October 21, 2009, from http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/Nine+charged+cocaine+trafficking+bust/2129304/story.html
Dangerous Fugitive Arrested in Calgary
Alex Soza was arrested earlier this week on multiple charges. He was pulled over in south-east Calgary with his daughter and girlfriend in the vehicle. Alex Soza’s daughter painfully watched her father get arrested by the Fugitive Apprehension Detail. Sgt. Tony Manning stated,
“We spent the better part of the week looking for him".
Soza’s active warrant has been out since February of this year after an aggravated assault charge in Lethbridge. Manning explains that the aggravated assault ended with a bullet in a mans leg. This situation was drug related. Not only being wanted in Lethbridge, Soza was said to be wanted out of breaches of Red Deer and Sylvan Lake area. Soza is also wanted for numerous counts of offences that include robbery, robbery with a fireman, and assault with a deadly weapon. Recognized as a dangerous fugitive, Soza has his next court appearance in Lethbridge October 26, 2009. The article is very fact-based, and has very reliable sources. It is definitely more news based rather than opinion. The article shows no room for an opinion to be formed. It was written by Nadia Moharib. The article practically sums up how dangerous the fugitive is, what the fugitive(Soza) has done, and when Soza is facing the courts.
References
N. Moharib (October 9, 2009)Calgary Sun. Police collar suspected gang fugitive, Retrieved October 13, 2009, from http://www.calgarysun.com/news/alberta/2009/10/09/11352571-sun.html
Gangs a Concern for Calgary Public, but Still Pleased With Police Efforts
On October 15th of 2009, the Calgary Herald published an article in the City & Region section regarding the public opinion of the Calgary Police Service titled ‘Calgarians pleased with police service’, with the by-line ‘Gang violence remains a major concern’.
Authored by Gwendolyn Richards of the Herald, the article summarized a recently released survey conducted by the Calgary Police Commission Citizen Survey which reported that an overwhelming majority of Calgary citizens are satisfied with the service.
However, gang violence in Calgary is shown to be the area in which most Calgarians are concerned about, which CPC chairman Denis Painchaud primarily attributes to the New Year shootings which left 3 dead. Richards also quoted Painchaud as stating that
“there is still a significant gang problem out there...There’s still work to be done".
Following the mentioned concern with gang violence, the article proceeded to present more statistics and interview clips which suggested that although the public perception of safety is increasing, more officers will be needed as the city continues to grow in population.
I believe that Richards did a relatively good job of presenting the report in an objective, fact-based manner. In combination with the overwhelming amount of statistics, Richards included compelling interview clips with the mentioned chairman of the Calgary Police Commission, Alderman Diane Colley-Urquhart, and Deputy Chief Al Redford, which gave the article a good sense of validity and believability.
However, due to the fact the article was primarily in regards to the public perception of police presence, I believe it would have been beneficial if Richards had interviewed regular citizens to gain their perspective. Such an addition would give further depth to the statistics, and would allow a reader to relate more to the subject matter.
I also found the presentation of the statistics order to be interesting, and it may be perceived that a slight bias was included. Near the middle of the article, Richards presented four statistics in regards to the public perception of safety and officer totals. The last statistic she presented was in response to the question of whether they would like the Calgary Police Service to recruit more officers, which one-third of the interviewed responded to affirmatively.
Out of the four previously mentioned statistics, the latter-stated was the highest in percentile but for some reason was cited at the end of the paragraph. Also, it was the only statistic in the article to be presented as a fraction (one-third) rather than a percentile, which I found to be peculiar. I cannot explicitly suggest that Richards is biased towards the police service (which many reporters are), but there is a slightly subjective stance taken.
Ultimately, Richards presented the credible statistics from the CPC in a compelling manner. Asides from the two mentioned potential improvements, the article summated the report well, and concluded that although the Calgary Police Service is lacking in officer totals and that gang violence is worrisome, it is doing its job well.
References
Richards, G. (2009, October 15). Calgarians pleased with police service. Calgary Herald, p. B3.
Calgary Manhunt for Jewel Thief
I had a very difficult time with finding news this week, and failed to find an opinion article involving Calgary gangs and police instigation and treatment. I did however find an article involving news from October 20th that really interested me, as it walked through an investigation into a case of a very strategic diamond heist by gangs.
In the Calgary Herald on October 21, 2009, Jason Van Rassel wrote about the involved gangs and their tendency to stalk victims, cause eventual car breakdown, and then rob them of the diamonds or jewels that gang members realistically know the victims are in possession of. According to Van Rassel, this is an event that has been witnessed before, specifically in Red Deer.
The article goes on to explain police efforts into an investigation, particularly the methods that the police had employed, of a “manhunt” for these individuals. The police are portrayed as somewhat heroic in the article, as it was mentioned that they used a HAWC helicopter, the tactical unit, and had even interrupted the Calgary transit to seek the perpetrators out.
What I noticed about the article is that it makes no reference to the investigation surrounding the first act by these individuals which were the events that took place in Red Deer. I had no luck in locating a story about these events. Perhaps in December 2008 when the Red Deer heist occurred, the issue seemed less of an issue than a repeat offence?
Reference:
Van Rassel, J. (2009, October 21). Manhunt in Calgary after diamond heist; Red Deer robbery probed. Calgary Herald. Retreived October 21, 2009, from http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/Jewel+heist+links+Deer+robbery+probed/2127344/story.html