idiots
Too cold to walk, youths take hot car to counselling
Ordered to attend program to learn about not stealing vehicles
Tue Jan 22 2008
By Mike McIntyre
FOUR chronic car thieves are accused of stealing a vehicle last week so they could attend court-ordered counselling aimed at reducing their high-risk criminal lifestyle, the Free Press has learned.
Three of the teen suspects were arrested within minutes of exiting the downtown Winnipeg Training for Youth (TRY) program, where they had just spent the morning learning about the error of their ways.
The youths, aged 16 and 17, told officers they went to class in a hot car because it was "too cold to walk," according to sources.
Plainclothes members of the stolen auto unit and general patrol officers had been watching the vehicle, which was parked outside the office building, and quickly grabbed two accused from the vehicle at gunpoint as they tried to drive away.
A third occupant escaped, triggering a brief but dramatic noon-hour chase down Broadway.
Several panicked callers to 911 initially believed they were witnessing an assault, but quickly realized what was happening and jumped in to help, according to police.
A woman in a skirt stuck her leg out, attempting to trip the fleeing fugitive. Several men in business suits also tried to grab him.
"We couldn't believe how the citizens got involved and took such an active role," one officer told the Free Press.
"It shows their frustration," with Winnipeg's high auto theft rate, he said.
Police were even more stunned when they learned where the young thieves had just come from.
The youths were following court orders to attend the TRY program. However, the fact they didn't appear to realize that stealing a car to get there was a bad idea shows the "disconnect" that exists in so many young criminal minds, police say.
Police said this is the first case they've seen where people allegedly stole a car so they could attend programming to learn about not stealing cars.
All the accused are high-risk, Level 4 offenders -- the highest designation police can give -- who were forced to attend TRY as part of their most recent sentencing hearings for auto theft.
The fourth suspect had allegedly been involved in stealing the car, but wasn't along for the ride home. He was picked up by police hours later.
Officials with the TRY program recently gave a presentation to a national auto-theft forum in Ottawa that brought together similar programs from across Canada to share ideas.
Winnipeg's auto-theft rate took a significant drop in 2007 after several consecutive years of increase, as police efforts to target and strictly monitor repeat, high-risk offenders in the community paid off.
But police and justice officials say the problem is still serious -- as noted by two cases last year where innocent people died after being struck by stolen vehicles.
A 16-year-old boy was sentenced last week to 32 months of custody and supervision after pleading guilty to a high-speed "joyride" that killed cyclist James Duane in July.
The young driver fled the scene, struck a parked police car and then jumped out of the vehicle before being caught after a short foot chase. He told officers he stole the 2003 GMC Sierra pickup truck earlier that day because he "didn't want to walk anymore."
"This is what's pandemic in the whole auto-theft culture. These kids just don't think it's a big deal. They don't seem to understand that what happened in this case can happen in just about every case," said Crown attorney Scott Cooper.
The teen was a well-known auto thief with a history of recent convictions. He was a designated high-risk offender who was in an auto theft prevention program that subjects repeat offenders to added scrutiny from police and probationary services, including curfew checks.
But he had gone on the run several days earlier and quickly went back to drinking, doing drugs and hanging out with his criminal cohorts.
"When I'm drinking, I don't think of the consequences of my actions. I just do what I want," the teen recently told a probation officer who has deemed him a "very high risk" to re-offend.
link:http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/sub...-4708247c.html
http://news.windingroad.com/2008/01/
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