Vancouver police chief Jim Chu announced 163 charges for the first 60 people involved in what is being deemed "the largest crime spree in the history of Vancouver," as reported by nwsportsbeat.com and The Associated Press.
The charges include breaking and entering, arson, aggravated assault and participating in a riot. Chu announced some other rioter chargers, as well, including assisting in flipping police cars, jumping on vehicles, breaking windows and damaging businesses.
Chu said that a forensic database and some video research was used to properly identify those involved in the riots that took place over four months ago.
"In the minds of many, today has been a long time coming and I share those frustrations," said Chu. "I wish there could have been a quicker and simpler way to bring the rioters before the courts, and as tempting as it may have been to some to take those shortcuts, we still believe that we owed it to the victims of the riot and the residents of the community to take the time necessary to build the best cases possible."
So what happens if you are the 61st person involved in the mayhem? Are you free to go?
Rioters ranged from 16-year-old kids to older men. How do the police plan to take action on that?
It is good to see the city of Vancouver finally doing something about the disastrous events, but it's just a bit late and the details are rather confusing.
About 15,000 criminal acts were recorded on June 15 in British Columbia. Expect more to come from these investigations.
