PLEASE READ!

I read this story on SANDRA RUTTAN'S BLOG and just had to share it here, along with a link to the Petition.

In 1982, a beautiful 16 year old girl was picked up at a bus stop by an 18 yr. old man who brutally raped, mutilated, and murdered her by torture, and finally by smashing in her head with a 70 lb. cement block. Her name was DARLENE and her family called her "Dolly".

This murderer is now up for parole on April 17th/07 for his 25 yrs to life sentence. In Canada, I'm sorry to say, "life sentence" doesn't mean "life behind bars till you die". This man has served his 25 yrs and is now asking to be paroled back into the community.

I urge you to visit NO FREEDOM DOBSON - the website that Darlene's sister has put up to let the public know about this horrific crime. Please click on the "Petition" icon at the bottom of the page and sign it electronically. We only have 5 more days till his parole hearing. You don't have to live in Canada to sign the petition.

We can't bring back DARLENE, but we can try and help her family prevent this monster coming back into society. As a former police officer, I watched the video clip on the website in horror. This man will undoubtedly reoffend. The most sickening part of the video was the way he spoke about "MY victim's family." He still has the murder "personalized" and that means there's no remorse for his actions.

Please visit the website and sign the petition. It only takes a few moments and could mean all the difference in whether or not this man goes free to commit further rape/murders of underage girls.

And many thanks to fellow writer Sandra Ruttan for bringing this to light in our cyber-community.

SLAUGHTER OF INNOCENTS

Can anyone tell me what is going on in these last two weeks? Three school shootings in the US and one horrible one in Canada as well, on September 14th. I took some hits for blogging about Lukas Rossi winning his first spot that day for rock band Supernova - by email, not that anyone left comments here on the blog. That was the day of our terrible Dawson College shooting in Montreal by Killveer Gill, who loaded himself up with a shotgun, a restricted weapon which he'd obtained legally up here in Canada, and then enjoyed himself killing one 18 yrs old girl and wounding about six or more women and himself before the police got to him and shot him. During the autopsy it was determined that it was his own shot which ultimately killed him, although the police had certainly rained fire down on him.

Now, this one room school house in Lancaster, PA has been defiled by a 32yr old truck driver with a 20 yr old grudge against something regarding a school girl when he was 12. And it just now explodes? He orders all the boys and male teacher out of the school, brings in 600 rounds of ammunition, two assault weapons, ties the girls up at the ankles with wire and plastic ties, and then shoots them execution style. And as soon as the police surround him, like the coward, but no doubt mentally ill person he is, he offs himself inside with little girls screaming and crying all around him.

I left comments in a discussion online with the Globe and Mail newspaper. They took a poll as to whether the media should play such stories as they unfold, when they are such obvious copy cats, omit some details, or downplay them. I wrote in that a) I believed that CTVNewsNet and CNN didn't have to rebroadcast the crime every 15 minutes until society was saturated with it, as it becomes addictive to time bombs such as this man, and in their minds, it makes it "ok" to repeat the offense. I truly believe that it's like watching a violent video game over and over. And b) I felt that the focus should be on the families who've been left behind, and on the victims themselves, not glorifying the killers, as was done here in Canada with Killveer Gill - countless images of him from his Blog, excerpts from his Blog, etc. It was really quite disgusting. And it was CTVNewsNet that put that out there. Nothing on the 18 yrs old he killed until her funeral.

The Amish community according to the media are coping as well as can be expected with this tragedy. They are a people of strength, faith in God, and pull together in times of disaster. I was heartened to hear on the news that the hospital had received phone calls and emails from local churches asking how they could help - either with meals for those sitting at the hospital, or transportation back and forth from their town to the hospital as these are Old Order Amish and do not use cars. The Amish and Mennonites are well known to turn up at local disaster sites to help with the victims of tornadoes and floods. It was so good to see "outsiders" offering to help them in their time of extreme need.

Yesterday, after the shooting, I was in WalMart with my children and our local Hutterites (cousins to the Amish) were in from their settlement to shop. They all wear the same clothes, headwear, and the boys and men all dress in black. Their women look so serene - I would love to have some of that serenity in my busy life! We live in a small town, and they are close by; I couldn't imagine such a terrible thing happening here. And yet, this too is rural prairie - they only have two vehicles in their entire community, and one school.

Our high school has video cameras in all corners of all floors, and yet there is no mandate to sign in at the office or report in anywhere. Students roam freely and so do adults - no visitors passes clipped to their shirts in evidence. All the doors are unlocked. It makes me shiver.

We write about crime, evil, psychopaths, serial killers, murder, rape, what makes criminals do what they do. But reality is far worse than what we write. These madmen take away our innocence, and they slaughter our innocent ones.

TRIUMPH OUT OF TRAGEDY

I read part of this story in yesterday's Globe and Mail, but it's been in most national US newspapers and likely on TV as well. It's the story of Anthony Stockelman, who raped and murdered 10 yr old Katie Collman in January 2005 and is now serving a life sentence in Indiana. He was "mysteriously" tattooed on his forehead by inmates with the words "KATIES revenge". This while he was in protective custody. I have to smile...sorry, but I know how jails and prisons work. Some guard had to have left his cell door open, and his back turned, for enough time to elapse for that to happen. I tried to upload the picture of his sorry looking face, but couldn't, so you'll have to imagine a shaggy-haired, cold-eyed young man with capital letters KATIES and in smaller letter "revenge" in black ink covering his entire forehead.

I googled farther into the story and found a website http://www.crothersville.net/playground/index.htm called Katie's Playground which was started by her parents, her school, and classmates on August 3, 2005. It's 8,000+ square feet, and the students made a list of everything they dreamed of having in a playground. The design was done by an architectural firm Leathers and Associates. It was all put together by volunteer labour, with volunteer day care provided. Amazing! A list of the play equipment and the cost of each piece was put up on a website page, and gradually things were bought and paid for.

The playground hosts events that are listed on the site. There are directions to the Playground. It's become a living memorial in a small town. A memorial to a little girl who didn't return from her short walk to the dollar store one January day over a year ago.

This is why I can never write about children or abducted children in my books. As a parent, I can think of nothing worse. I praise and admire the Collman's for their brilliant idea to make this playground as a testimony to their beautiful little girl. (An apartment building that housed a meth lab was torn down to make the space - all the more fitting to put up a children's playground)

As for tattooing Stockelman - he's lucky that's all they did to him. Anybody who checks in here even once a month knows I put out our Amber Alert for the little guy who was abducted in a small town in Saskatchewan. The pervert was caught, the two boys saved, and all of this could've been avoided if the police force out east had been on the ball enough to put it on CPIC that he was at large again. I think we need to do more than let communities know we have sexual offenders/child molesters living amongst us. Tattooing their forearms seems like a good idea to me - we could all see it - even tattooing their knuckles would save many children who could recognize it and run and scream away from them. If I sound like a neo-Nazi, well, sorry, but I was a cop, remember? :) I've dealt with several sexually assaulted children and you never forget - and regardless of what my PhD SIL believes, bless her, I don't believe the perps can ever be cured.

So let's tattoo them where it shows. Let's protect our children with such stringent laws that eventually there will be no more Katie Collmans, or Cynthia Luengs abducted and murdered.

And grace to Katie's parents, who must look at that playground some days with a heavy heart, but who have shown great courage during the worst year of their lives. Now some strangers they've never met have sealed their tormenter with "the mark of Cain" and he'll never be able to rest if and when he does get parole. Justice has been served.

WRITING CRIME WHEN THE CRIME RATE'S DOWN

My love of crime, suspense, and thriller novels comes comes from my past career - nearly a whole lifetime ago - of being a police officer. My favourite themes are redemption, and justice, and my favourite characters are anti-heroes, crusaders, and the flawed/broken/demented.

The cops portrayed on Law & Order, and the old show "Homicide: Life on the Streets" are excellent character profiles of "real" cops. Fontana is my favourite cop on L&O right now, as I knew several "older" cops like him - although not as elegantly dressed in my smaller city - who operated in much the same ways, with the same attitudes and ethics. Unfortunately, I've never met an Assistant Crown Attorney (our version of an Assistant DA) quite like McCoy. But if you're looking for good cops to emulate for character realism, Fontana on L&O, Vincent D'Onofrio on L&O: Criminal Intent, and Mariska Hargitay on L&O: Special Victims Unit, are quite true to life. Fontana is a great "street" cop, D'Onofrio portrays the cerebral cop who uses intuition and education to pick apart a case, and Mariska plays an intuitive, sensitive, but spit-in-your-eye, female cop with baggage who does her job as an equal.

My favourite themes as I said are redemption and justice, because who doesn't need that in their life at some point? Every person I arrested needed it: that second chance to do it over, or not do it, to get back that moment before they got in that car, broke into that building, slashed their wife, left their apartment for two days with the baby in the crib....

Some cops didn't care about the victims, and most didn't care about the criminals. Most criminals are not as smart as they are in the movies, even if they're "career" criminals. They're creatures of habit and that's why they're easy to profile. They're usually grouped into a) opportunists, b) habitual, and they are usually the products of "institutions" such as the foster care/juvenile system, or are sociopathic and living in a family situation, thus the "good boy from such a good family" line. Any cop who "cared" was shamed by their peers into being thought of as a "social worker with a gun". (male or female)

Most cops after they've been on the job 3-4 years see themselves as dealing with the lower echelons of society, if not "hauling garbage". Novels which deal with cops as heros do alot to embrace the ideal of the cop as guardian of society - of being more than just the person who deals with all of the horrible things that normal people do not see and do not want to see - novels with cops as heros are redemptive in themselves.

Writing crime/suspense/thriller novels is giving the public a little glimpse into a world they know is out there, but don't want to get too close to in real life. It's challenging work and invigorating at the same time. The truth is that cops are the guardians of our society - witness this one year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina and the lawlessness that took place when one third of their police force quit en masse - and as I now have the time to write I enjoy putting to paper the real world that I know is out there...to show the public something they don't know about, and tell stories that are fictional while being real life at the same time.

I used to come home off nights and tell my fiance after a short-handed nightshift that if the public really knew what went on all night, they'd never be able to fall asleep!

AMBER ALERT!!

I have no idea why my Blog won't upload pictures anymore - but the important thing is that you visit http://www.rcmp-grc.cg.ca/sk/MediaReleases/zachary_miller_e.htm to see all of the pictures and information on the Sunday July 30th abduction of ZACHARY MILLER from Whitewood, Saskatchewan.

PLEASE visit this website and take down the information for this little 10 year old boy who is in danger from this 35 yr old pedophile. If this is the only good my Blog does for anyone, it will be worth it! ZACHARY needs our help and prayers. I only wish my Blog was working for a picture of him: he's 4'6" tall, white/blonde hair, slim build.

I'll be visiting Blogger Help to see if I can get my Image Maker restored. Thanks for checking the link.

EDIT: I have no idea why that link won't work, or why I can't upload Zachary's picture. My Images just isn't moving whenever I go to upload a pic so I'll have to present my problem to Blogger. I'll check for another link today. Sorry folks!

A Mystery

Curtis Allan Dagenais appeared in North Batteford, Saskatchewan this morning for a bail hearing. He turned himself in at his home of Spiritwood's RCMP Detachment after being at large for 12 days. He's been charged with murder for the deaths of Cst. Robin Cameron and Cst. Marc Bourdages, and attempted murder for the other nameless officer who backed them up.

When the judge asked him if he understood the charges he answered "no". When she read them out again, he answered "yeah". It took barely five minutes to remand him and whisk him back to a solitary cell to await his next court date. He's a chip off the old block of his father, Arthur Dagenais, who's charged with "obstructing justice". He refused to leave the area the RCMP were searching for his son - the police got a court order to get him out of the area. Arthur's court date is Dec. 5th and he'll be in custody till then.

Both father and son allegedly hate police and have had numerous run-ins with them all of their lives. Both have police records for charges of assault - the father for domestic violence, and the son for assaulting a highway traffic officer. Curtis has had five violent charges against him, and was nearly named a "dangerous offender" by a whisker except that he hasn't done enough jail time to be considered a "dangerous offender".

There were interviews done by The Globe and Mail, Canada's national Newspaper, calling for stricter sentences from judges in handing out even the minimum sentences allowed for assault. While Canada has been much stricter on domestic violence in past years, simple assault is usually passed over with probation and a fine for a first offense, and perhaps a short 30 days and higher fine for a second offence.

I believe I said in another post that criminals are "career" in their behaviour, they are very often narcisstic in personality, not just sociopathic, and aggressive towards those in authority. Paranoid and often loners, they are often unstable mentally which leads them to substance abuse which leads to more crime.

What caused Dagenais to turn himself in, instead of committing suicide as the killer of four Mounties did last March, will be interesting to find out. It's a mystery right now, but points to a self-involved, narcisstic personality disorder. Narcissists don't kill themselves. The world revolves around them. He won't feel any remorse - no doubt he's still thinking he can get his father to change his mind about his will and deeding half of his farm to his mother - after all, that's what started his murderous rampage in the first place.

No doubt his mother Elsie, and sister Grace, are very glad that both husband/father and son/brother are in jail for what will be a number of months.

And if the judges who had had Dagenais in their courtrooms five times previously had been a bit bolder in their sentencing - had paid attention to him, he wouldn't have been out on July 7th in Spiritwood to kill Cst. Cameron and Cst. Bourdages. He would have been behind bars indefinitely as a dangerous offender, a menace to society, and safe in his cell - never to hurt his family or community again.

If you want to know how this ties in with writing - other than my being an ex-police officer - I say take a look at a real killer and follow the story of how this all unfolds.

EDIT: despite my attempts to include a photo of Dagenais in this post, neither would upload properly. Either there's a problem with Blogger or the pictures were protected for copyright, although I have used copyrighted pictures before and given them the proper credit. So I'm sorry that you couldn't have seen his face - it might have inspired some of you for a character sketch.

ANOTHER MOUNTIE TRAGEDY

On July 7th, RCMP Cst.'s Robin Cameron, above, and Marc Bourdages, responded to a familiar house across from their RCMP Detachment for another domestic call. It was fine summer evening in Spiritwood, Saskatchewan. The town troublemaker had just found out that his mother was going to inherit half of his father's farm, which he had thought he was going to inherit in full. He and his sister, Grace, were going at it full tilt in the house and Grace was trying to protect her divorced mom from her brother.

The domestic resulted in an armed Curtis Dagenais leading these two officers on a 27 km chase into a swampy, brush-filled area. A third officer pursued them as back-up. The chase ended, so the RCMP say, at 9:15 p.m. with both officers shot in the head, the back-up officer returning fire with Dagenais, and Dagenais making it away into the woods - woods that he apparently knows better than his own living room. He was well-known in town for his hatred of authority, particularly police.

This past weekend, both officers succumbed to their injuries. Cst. Bourdages leaves behind a nine-month-old son, and a widow who is also a Cst. in that Detachment. Spiritwood is a small farming community north of Saskatoon. Cst. Cameron was a single mother of an eleven year old daughter. Her father and uncle are both RCMP officers as well.

In Canada, we tend to recognize our police deaths with large funerals in the same way that we do our fallen soldiers. The shock we feel at their deaths is in large part because of our strict gun control. Also, when they fall in the line of duty in such small towns it seems surreal that the officer you see everyday in the same coffee shop - off duty in the same grocery store, should suddenly be taken from you by the same freak you've known since high school. It doesn't seem right, it's not fair, and nothing can bring them back. Sudden death, graphic death, in real life leaves deep, ravaging holes in the fabric of a community. And it takes time to mourn the dead.

Our RCMP are a Canadian icon. They are seen as the elite among our police forces, although every man and woman who wears any police uniform does the same job, day in and day out.

Curtis Dagenais is wanted on a Canada Wide Warrant. His father thinks he's committed suicide. I think perhaps that's true because no picture has been shown of him on any news station despite of talk of the warrant. If I find a picture of him I'll post it here on my blog.

Robin and Marc, thank you for all the good you've done, for the respected officers you've been, and for the wonderful memories you have given your children. You leave a great legacy.