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2 NEWS & VIEWS The Kensington <strong>Mar</strong>ket Drum, <strong>Mar</strong>ch <strong>1991</strong><br />
••••••••••••••<br />
COP TALK<br />
F~tal Staring Contest? Three Die<br />
by Colin Puf'fer<br />
Kensington <strong>Mar</strong>ket was recently<br />
witness to another in a<br />
series of shootings that have<br />
plagued the area in the last few<br />
months.<br />
On Saturday, <strong>Mar</strong>ch 1, there<br />
was a triple murder at the A<br />
Dong Restaurant located on the<br />
north side of College St just<br />
west of Spadina. As was the<br />
case in the Quan Saigon Me<br />
Kong Restaurant shooting (see<br />
February's Drum) it seems that<br />
the incident grew out of a staring<br />
match rather than being the<br />
result of a personal vendetta or<br />
gang related crime. Though<br />
police have a description of the<br />
three yout.hs who did the<br />
shooting-they appear to have<br />
been teens - there are<br />
presently no suspects.<br />
KIMBO SHOOTING<br />
There has been some progress<br />
made in the Kimbo Restaurant<br />
shooting. The head of this<br />
investigation, Det. Sgt. Reeser,<br />
reports that 2 arrests have been<br />
made, one in Vancouver and<br />
one in New York City. The<br />
person charged in Vancouver<br />
had already been arrested on a<br />
' weapons charge in that city.<br />
Metro police are starting<br />
extradition proceedings' to<br />
bring the New York suspect<br />
back to stand trial in Toronto.<br />
Both men will be charged with<br />
1 count of 1st degree murder<br />
and 2 counts of attempted murder.<br />
HIGHER PROFILE<br />
Fourteen Division has responded<br />
to the escalation of<br />
violence in the <strong>Mar</strong>ket/<br />
Chinatown district with an<br />
increased police presence,<br />
believing that a higher profile<br />
will make it more difficult for<br />
violent crimes to be committed.<br />
Over the last couple of weeks<br />
there has been a very noticeable<br />
increase in the frequency of foot<br />
patrols and the number of<br />
police in those patrols- often<br />
4 or more officers.<br />
There has also been a blitz on<br />
parking offenders. A section of<br />
Dundas, between Spadina and<br />
A,ugusta was closed off late<br />
Friday evening, <strong>Mar</strong>ch 8, when<br />
a fleet of tow trucks descended<br />
to systematically tag and tow<br />
every illegally parked car.<br />
Accotding to Det. Sgt. Elford<br />
(head of 14 Div. A.C.U.) the<br />
increased presence is partially<br />
due to the reassignment of<br />
police from other duties.<br />
Fourteen Division (and the<br />
Asian Crime Unit in particular)<br />
still suffers from a manpower<br />
shortage and shuffling officers<br />
from other units is the only way<br />
to increase the number of police<br />
on the streets. But shifting assignments<br />
to put more cops on<br />
the beat is seen as only a<br />
temporary solution. As it is,<br />
police in cruisers can fall 20 or<br />
30 calls behind on a busy night<br />
so more foot patrols mean a<br />
longer response time to the<br />
complaints that make up the<br />
bulk of police calls.<br />
Elford still insists that little of<br />
the violent crime is gang related<br />
and believes that there is no<br />
connection between the rash of<br />
shootings i.e. there is no element<br />
of retaliation in the<br />
shootings.<br />
~<br />
&l<br />
~<br />
Ill<br />
$'<br />
0<br />
1i<br />
Agencies Right To Try Network<br />
says Metro Commissioner<br />
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