85 replies to this topic

[pherthyl]

The police chief must be a psychic if he knows who the suspects were behind those masks and what their motivation for the robbery was.

 

The individuals who robbed the dispensary had access to guns. Where do you even begin to look for guns in a moment of desperation? Do you first steal them from a registered owner? Do you first acquire them through a black market supplier? Phyrthyl, can you enlighten us on where we can get guns when we feel we've become desperate and need to rob a business? And when we're desperate, where do we acquire a car for the get-away? Do we first steal it, which was highly likely in this scenario, or do we use a car we own, which would be a stupid move despite desperate people not being idiots, as you say.

 

Your theory on the desperation of these criminals is bunk.

 

Look who is suddenly an expert on desperation.  Apparently it's the hardest thing in the world to acquire a gun and a car, and no one could possibly pull it off.  What world do you live in?   And "my theory on desperation"?  Did you miss the part where the chief of police agrees with the theory?   You don't think he knows just a tiny bit more about this than you do?

 

It's going to go down as one of the most poorly thought out comments made by a mayor in a city frought with petty ctime and a serious a issue with a burgeoning street community.
 

LOL.  It's going to go down as another storm in the teacup that is VV.  Outside of the manufactured outrage here, everyone realizes that it's a sensible assessment of the situation.  More desperate people means more crime.    That isn't an excuse for crime, it's a reason, simple as that.

Edited by pherthyl, 30 October 2015 - 01:01 PM.

[Mr Cook Street]

Lisa's statement makes sense to me.

 

For anyone who doesn't live/work downtown, we are not yet at a Mad Max point of anarchy. Things are still very pleasant down here, contrary to what some of the threads on VV imply.

[Mike K.]

LOL.  It's going to go down as another storm in the teacup that is VV.  Outside of the manufactured outrage here, everyone realizes that it's a sensible assessment of the situation.  More desperate people means more crime.    That isn't an excuse for crime, it's a reason, simple as that.

 

You mean the teacup that reaches over 200,000 individuals every year and one you check every day and have invested hundreds of hours penning thousands of posts on? That teacup?

 

Are you averse to someone disagreeing with you, is that it? Does it make you feel better to pretend like your point of view is the only valid point of view, and everyone else is misinformed?

[Mike K.]

Lisa's statement makes sense to me.

 

For anyone who doesn't live/work downtown, we are not yet at a Mad Max point of anarchy. Things are still very pleasant down here, contrary to what some of the threads on VV imply.

 

So we have phyrthyl and the mayor telling us all criminals are victims acting out of desperation and desperation is more prevalent in our community than ever. We have the police chief telling us crime is sharply on the rise, meanwhile things are still very pleasant down here?

[pherthyl]

You mean the teacup that reaches over 200,000 individuals every year and one you check every day and have invested hundreds of hours penning thousands of posts on? That teacup?

 

Yes that teacup.  I expect my share of the advertising revenue any day now.  Just kidding, I do it out of the pure love of proving you wrong.  

 

Are you averse to someone disagreeing with you, is that it? Does it make you feel better to pretend like your point of view is the only valid point of view, and everyone else is misinformed?

 

 

What exactly is your argument here?  That desperate people don't commit more crimes than comfortable people with normal jobs?

 

 

So we have phyrthyl and the mayor telling us all criminals are victims

 

 

Please show me where anyone said they are victims.  Do you understand the difference between a reason and a justification?

Also are you now making the argument that Victoria is not a pleasant place to live?

Edited by pherthyl, 30 October 2015 - 01:19 PM.

[Mr Cook Street]

So we have phyrthyl and the mayor telling us all criminals are victims acting out of desperation and desperation is more prevalent in our community than ever. We have the police chief telling us crime is sharply on the rise, meanwhile things are still very pleasant down here?

 

Things are very pleasant! I walk these streets every single day and I feel just as safe as last year and the year before that. Crime goes up, crimes goes down. I don't feel like it has come to the point that we need to 'take it back'. Not even close.

[Mike K.]

Yes that teacup.  I expect my share of the advertising revenue any day now.  Just kidding, I do it out of the pure love of proving you wrong.

 

You're an incredible source of entertainment and great fodder for discussion, and I know I speak for a lot of people when I say your presence here is appreciated.

 

Regarding the robbery, if you can prove the individuals who stuck guns in the faces of the workers of the dispensary were acting out of pure desperation I'll tip my hat to you. Until then you're just a dude penning anonymous opinions on an Internet forum.

[thundergun]

Sensationalizing anything does draw more page views and clicks though.

Many of the recent arguments (discussions?) on this site have been petty and pointless.

[nagel]

My two cents is I did not appreciate her comment (but I also don't live in the CoV so there's no reason she should care).  There are certainly a lot of desperate people out there, and maybe most of the crimes committed are by your Jean Valjean's of the world who want/need to take just to get by.  There's also a small group of people that do not care about the law and order of society and are perfectly happy to steal to get ahead.  To say for certain which group was involved in this crime is very premature.  I don't think she should be using this specific incident to forward her agenda on homelessness.

[pherthyl]

You're an incredible source of entertainment and great fodder for discussion, and I know I speak for a lot of people when I say your presence here is appreciated.

Regarding the robbery, if you can prove the individuals who stuck guns in the faces of the workers of the dispensary were acting out of pure desperation I'll tip my hat to you. Until then you're just a dude penning anonymous opinions on an Internet forum.

Indeed, as are you. As it turns out the people that actually know something about this topic agree with me though (or more accurately, I agree with them).

[insanelydeadlydisease]

I think the primary reason why people rob places is because they're bad. Good people, by definition don't rob places. 

[spanky123]

So we have phyrthyl and the mayor telling us all criminals are victims acting out of desperation and desperation is more prevalent in our community than ever. We have the police chief telling us crime is sharply on the rise, meanwhile things are still very pleasant down here?

 

In fairness to the police chief he only said that crime was on the rise until Al pointed out to him what that statement meant. He then 180'd and said Victoria was very low and should not be a concern.

[Mike K.]

Indeed, as are you. As it turns out the people that actually know something about this topic agree with me though (or more accurately, I agree with them).

I'm not anonymous nor do I claim my opinion is proof of anything. I'm merely posing questions and engaging in conversation. I'm thrilled that you think as highly of me as you do to want spend hours proving me wrong every day. Thanks, I guess?

The mayor made a comment grossly generalizing criminal activity. It is far too premature for even the police chief to assume the reasons behind this robbery unless they've interviewed the suspects, which they haven't.

Regardless, this was an armed robbery, the absolute most violent form of robbery in our society and I take it as an affront to the law abiding citizenry of this city to brush this act of violence aside as a mere act of desperation. You don't have to agree with me, but your difference of opinion proves nothing. It's an opinion, unless you were involved in the robbery or know the individuals who were and have inside information.

[Mike K.]

In fairness to the police chief he only said that crime was on the rise until Al pointed out to him what that statement meant. He then 180'd and said Victoria was very low and should not be a concern.

So we have a police chief getting corrected by a radio host over crime stats, and we're supposed to believe his hunch about the armed robbery is that the robbers were good people forced to do a bad thing?

Geez Louise, what's happening in this city?

[spanky123]

So we have a police chief getting corrected by a radio host over crime stats, and we're supposed to believe his hunch about the armed robbery is that the robbers were good people forced to do a bad thing?

Geez Louise, what's happening in this city?

 

What Eisner needs to do is focus on running the police department and leave the politics to the politicos. He may think that he is helping the Mayor further her homeless and pot legalization agendas but in fact he is looking like a fool when he gets tripped up by the media.

[pherthyl]

I'm not anonymous nor do I claim my opinion is proof of anything. I'm merely posing questions and engaging in conversation. I'm thrilled that you think as highly of me as you do to want spend hours proving me wrong every day. Thanks, I guess?

The mayor made a comment grossly generalizing criminal activity. It is far too premature for even the police chief to assume the reasons behind this robbery unless they've interviewed the suspects, which they haven't.

Regardless, this was an armed robbery, the absolute most violent form of robbery in our society and I take it as an affront to the law abiding citizenry of this city to brush this act of violence aside as a mere act of desperation. You don't have to agree with me, but your difference of opinion proves nothing. It's an opinion, unless you were involved in the robbery or know the individuals who were and have inside information.

Holy overreaction batman. No one said anything about these specific robbers, just a statement that in general people who are desperate are the people committing crimes. As for the chief, he said incidents of crime are up, but overall crime rate is still very low. He was not corrected by the host as you say.

[Rob Randall]

It's pointless to argue since people perform robberies for all reasons and the public rarely learns the truth. Some steal for a laugh, some are professionals, and yes, some ordinarily would never dream of breaking the law but got so far down the endless spiral of severe drug addiction, robbery is the only possible choice. Sad but true. But I will say that those pathetic individuals usually stick a pointed finger in a pocket instead of a real gun.

Edited by Rob Randall, 30 October 2015 - 03:04 PM.

[Mike K.]

How do you even begin to rationalize the need for someone to use firearms against unarmed workers? This was all about fear and intimidation and showed a willingness to use deadly force as an option to getting what they wanted. And who knows, the ease with which this went down may in fact bring copycats.

So the message the mayor and the chief have essentually sent the criminal element in Victoria is if you engage in criminal activity with firearms, don't sweat it, we "get it."

[Rob Randall]

^Look at Stephen Reid, the stopwatch bandit--never harmed a fly during his robberies until his last heist, shooting at cops to feed his newly reacquired heroin habit. Incredibly stupid decision.

[sebberry]

Meanwhile over the last 30 days there have been just over 40 robberies and assaults just in the City of Victoria. That more than one per day. And that's only what's reported.

 
Don't worry, Mike, they're on the case!
 
 

Community Advocates for Reduced Speed
March 15 ·

One of the lesser known benefits of lower urban speed & improved walkability is reduced crime.

Things will get better downtown soon!