Thursday, December 19, 2002 � Print Edition, Page A1
CALGARY -- When the men with handguns burst out of the two black vans parked near his new truck, Graeme Harfman's first thought was that he was going to be carjacked.
Then he realized the gun-toting men were police. And then he and his pregnant wife, Michelle, were forced to the pavement of a mall parking lot and handcuffed -- because police had been mistakenly told that the Harfmans' new $58,000 pickup was stolen from a car dealership.
"Take care of my wife, she's pregnant!" the 33-year-old electrical engineer recalls screaming as a police officer knelt on his back.
The couple spent only a few minutes in handcuffs before police realized that they had made a giant blunder, a chain of errors that began with a mix-up of paperwork at the dealership where Mr. Harfman had bought the 2003 Chevrolet Silverado nine days before and ended in the armed takedown on Dec. 15, complete with police dogs.
The Harfmans, thankful that their unborn baby is not injured, are nevertheless furious -- but not at Calgary police. They said their anger is directed toward the dealership, Shaganappi Chevrolet Oldsmobile, whose staff told police last Friday that a Silverado had been stolen from their lot.
The previous week, Mr. Harfman had picked up what he thought was his newly bought truck from the dealership. The salesman he had dealt with was on holiday and a second salesperson mistakenly gave Mr. Harfman a pewter Silverado that had been sold to another customer.
When that client arrived to pick up the vehicle, it couldn't be found. The dealership staff checked with their suppliers, and the provincial vehicle-registry office, but came up empty. Shaganappi Chev-Olds even contacted the OnStar service to see if the on-board communications system had been activated. It had not.
Concluding that theft was the only possible explanation, the dealership alerted Calgary police. Police then tapped into the OnStar satellite system to find the Silverado, pinpointing the pickup just as the Harfmans pulled out of an auto-parts shop on their way to do some Christmas shopping at a northeast Calgary mall.
Hours later, the couple were put in handcuffs as they returned from Wal-Mart.
For its part, the dealership acknowledges it made a serious error, and has apologized several times to the Harfmans, including offering to pay for a weekend trip to Banff. But general manager Ben Maitland said his employees believed a vehicle had been stolen, and acted appropriately. He added that if the change in ownership had been registered, or if the OnStar system had been activated, his staff would not have reported the vehicle stolen. (Mr. Harfman had almost a week to go in the 15-day period car buyers are allowed in Alberta to register their vehicles.)
The couple consulted a lawyer, but do not plan to sue.
Mr. Harfman said he and his wife were freed as soon as police were able to speak with staff at the dealership and confirm that they had not stolen the vehicle.
In the fifth month of her term, Mrs. Harfman wasn't obviously pregnant. But the couple were already worried about the child, which will be their first, even before the arrest. Mrs. Harfman, 40, had miscarried 18 months ago and had quit her job to ensure that this pregnancy went smoothly.
They lauded the police for being quick to apologize, and trying to inject a bit of humour into a traumatic situation. "This will be something to put in your scrapbook for your baby," one officer said. Police also called emergency medical services when Mrs. Harfman complained of abdominal pains.
But the couple do question why police rushed at them with guns drawn. "We were treated like criminals," Mrs. Harfman said.
Calgary Police Staff Sergeant Paul McCorquindale said the officers violated no procedures, but added that a less aggressive approach was an option.
While the entire episode started with a simple human error at the dealership, its staff should not have been so hasty in contacting police, he said. "Negligence is a little bit strong, but there was certainly neglect on their part in procedure or process." Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
"He added that if the change in ownership had been registered, or if the OnStar system had been activated, his staff would not have reported the vehicle stolen."
I sure hope he was only throwing this in as information, because it sure sounds like he's trying to shift some blame onto the customers.
Posted by Ritten (Member # 417) on :
Well, if I need a new car I know where I can get one, all I have to do is activate the OnStar.... It will, by the sounds of it, take a bit of searching through paperwork to see if the car had been stolen or not, so I can get in the general direction I want to go...
I might even send them a thank you note when I am done with it....
Posted by Vogon Poet (Member # 393) on :
quote:Originally posted by TSN:
"He added that if the change in ownership had been registered, or if the OnStar system had been activated, his staff would not have reported the vehicle stolen."
I sure hope he was only throwing this in as information, because it sure sounds like he's trying to shift some blame onto the customers.
Probably if they had activated the on-board system, he'd still have called the police, and the makers of America's Dumbest Criminals. 8)
Posted by Mark Nguyen (Member # 469) on :
Canada. As a resident of the city in question, I can tell you that many of us had a good laugh over it - and we were more than a little amazed taht the police would whip out the guns and take people down over a "stolen" car. Dunno how you do stuff in the States concerning this sort of crime, but around here that sort of police behaviour is not very common.
Mark
Posted by Styrofoaman (Member # 706) on :
That's uncalled for.
And that is so fucking typical, shift the blame to the customers.
I know what I'd due in that situation... Lawyers. Lots of them. In the end, I'd make it so that dealership would be unable to sell shit to a toilet.
Posted by Da_bang80 (Member # 528) on :
quote:Originally posted by Mark Nguyen: Canada. As a resident of the city in question, I can tell you that many of us had a good laugh over it - and we were more than a little amazed taht the police would whip out the guns and take people down over a "stolen" car. Dunno how you do stuff in the States concerning this sort of crime, but around here that sort of police behaviour is not very common.
Mark
Unless you live in Saskatoon! I swear, Saskatoon cops must be the worst I've ever seen.
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
quote:Originally posted by Styrofoaman: That's uncalled for.
And that is so fucking typical, shift the blame to the customers.
I know what I'd due in that situation... Lawyers. Lots of them. In the end, I'd make it so that dealership would be unable to sell shit to a toilet.
You have anger issues.
Posted by Ritten (Member # 417) on :
The last part is almost right... But if they can't sell shit to a toilet how can they pay those lovely payments to you for the rest of your unborn child's kids natural lives???
Posted by Snay (Member # 411) on :
quote:I can tell you that many of us had a good laugh over it - and we were more than a little amazed taht the police would whip out the guns and take people down over a "stolen" car. Dunno how you do stuff in the States concerning this sort of crime, but around here that sort of police behaviour is not very common.
Really? Here in the States, the officers' safety is the paramount concern. I guess cops in Canada are psychic and know when the people they're going to bust are carrying guns or not. And it's important to note that with the information the cops had, they DID believe the car to be stolen.
Posted by Styrofoaman (Member # 706) on :
quote:Originally posted by PsyLiam: You have anger issues.
Prehaps I'd think it funny if the same thing hadn't happened to me. Twice now. Once with a brand new car they "forgot" to enter into the system and once with a new computer.
Posted by Da_bang80 (Member # 528) on :
I smell bacon, I smell pork, look out piggies I got a fork!
Cops are so dumb. Maybe if cops were psychic, they could know who's actually speeding, instead of just pulling someone over because that person MIGHT be speeding, while about five other people who ARE speeding whiz by. Radar guns are worthless. Half the time the cops pull the wrong person for speeding. Then they expect YOU to be nice to them, cause they were suffering in thier air conditioned cars eating donuts and coffee all day, while your sitting there in you car getting a ticket for speeding, which you weren't. Posted by Snay (Member # 411) on :
quote:Half the time the cops pull the wrong person for speeding.
And what do you base this on? Oh, right, you're pulling it out of your ass because you got a speeding ticket (surprise, you were speeding) and have decided that all cops are idiots, because one cop caught you speeding and gave you a ticket (because speeding is illegal and endangers lives, and it's his or her duty to enforce the laws that say that speeding is illegal -- gasp, what a concept, that's why police are known as "law enforcement officers", because, see, they enforce the law).
Da_Bang, I realize that you're a complete and total idiot, and I just wonder if you realize that your posts are quite literally screaming "complete and total idiot."
If you don't want to get a speeding ticket, don't fucking speed. Simple concept. I hope if you're ever mugged, and a cop saves your worthless self, that you'll have the balls to tell him, "I smell bacon, I smell pork, look out piggies I got a fork!"
I hope this post hasn't offended anyone, but certain assholes who give police shit for doing their jobs really piss the living daylights out of me. If you break the law, and you get caught, have the balls to blame yourself for the transgression.
Posted by Da_bang80 (Member # 528) on :
Umm Actually I didn't get a ticket. My friend who was driving got one and he wasn't speeding, and when he told the cop that, he gave him a warning for arguing with him. I know he wasn't speeding cause I saw that the speedometer was 45 KM/H. And when I mentioned that POLITELY to the nice surly policeman, he didn't even listen.
And secondly, I never said that line about piggies, my friend did. And it's just my opinion if I don't like police, they assume that cause were teenagers, we were the ones speeding. I would never say "I smell bacon I smell pork look out piggies I got a fork" to a cop, cause even though I completely disagree with thier policies, I still respect the police because they do keep the peace. Not only that I'd only get in crap. I know my friend did.(I'm sorry if i didn't clarify that)
And I didn't pull the speeding thing out of my ass, there was a report done in saskatchewan a couple years back, that said that 78% of people pulled over for speeding WEREN'T speeding, the radar gun can't tell them who speeds, just that someone speeds and they choose who THEY think is the most likely to be speeding (again I apologize for not clarifying, I should have worded it better, but I was still angry from the incident. and I said some things that probably did sound stupid)
Posted by darkwing_duck1 (Member # 790) on :
People need to stop and think about a cop's life. They work very VERY hard, sometimes 12-16 hours a day. Their work is dangerous and difficult. On top of that, they live in the proverbial fishbowl;their every act is monitored, scrutinized, and frequently criticized. Their pay is low, and their stress levels are through the roof (police work has one of the highest suicide rates on the books, along with high rates of stress-linked illnesses [such as heart attacks]).
Think about THAT, before you smart off to the next cop you encounter. They deserve to be treated with respect.
Posted by E. Cartman (Member # 256) on :
And people deserve to treated like criminals. To hell with innocent until proven guilty. Police brutality never hurts.
"their every act is monitored, scrutinized, and frequently criticized"
Yeah, thankfully. Keeps the trigger-happies in check.
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
quote: police work has one of the highest suicide rates on the books
Interestingly, this turns out not to be the case. There was an article in the New York Times on the subject some weeks ago, about a study which concluded that, oddly enough, occupations traditionally considered to be high-stress have suicide rates that are no higher than the average.
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
I've had two personal encounters w/ cops.
In the first case, my friend's transmission exploded (literally, there was a hole in the casing and various parts that should have been inside it were strewn about the ground), so he pulled into the nearest parking lot. A couple other friends who were with us pulled in, too (there were about seven or eight of us in three cars). As we were trying to figure out what to do about the car, this cop pulls up and starts yelling at us, asking what we're doing in "his" parking lot. Bear in mind that, at this point, my friend had already gone into the Blockbuster whose parking lot it was and asked the people running it whether he could leave his car there since it was broken. They'd said "yes". One of my friends was calmly, politely explaining to the cop why we were there, and the cop starting threatening to beat him. At some point, the cop noticed one guy's little brother who was with us (he was about fifteen, I think), and figured he could get us for curfew violations. He sent that guy home, then asked another guy his age. "Eighteen." He asked the next guy. "Nineteen." He asked me. "Twenty." He gave up at that point, but he still told us that everyone who hadn't been in the broken car needed to leave immediately, or he'd arrest them for loitering, or something. After that, we went to the police station to file a complaint about the cop. Unfortunately, the first station we went to was closed, an I had to go home, but my friends went to another station and filed their complaints.
The other run-in I had was w/ a cop who wasn't as active an asshole, but still a jerk. Granted, I was speeding, so I'm not going to complain about the fact that I was pulled over and ticketed. I can live w/ that. But the guy took forever. He caught me speeding by tailing me (it was dark, so I didn't see that the car behind me was a cop, and I wasn't really watching my speed, anyway). He knew that my friends, who were behind him, were speeding, too, since they kept up w/ him, but apparently he couldn't ticket them since he wasn't actually following them. However, since he pulled me over right in front of my apartment (where we'd all been heading), he called for another cop to go find my friends in the parking lot so that he could give them a warning. He took about twenty minutes to write my ticket, ecause he was talking to them. When he finally came back w/ it, he'd left my insurance card in his car. He went to get it, and didn't bring it back for about ten minutes. Turns out, he was showing my friends various fancy devices on his car. He said "Sorry that took so long. We were back here playing w/ the police car." As he walked off, he said "You can come back and play w/ the police car, too, if you want." I just said "No, that's alright" and drove off when he turned off his lights.
So, basically, the only cops I've ever dealt with were, on one hand, actively hateful, and, on the other hand, passively disrespectful. I know that not all cops are like that. But I've heard far more "the cop was such a fucking ass" stories than "the cop was quite pleasant" stories.
Posted by Snay (Member # 411) on :
quote:Police brutality never hurts.
Cartman, pull your head out of your ass.
Where are we talking police brutality in this thread, hmm?
Posted by The_Tom (Member # 38) on :
quote:Originally posted by TSN: At some point, the cop noticed one guy's little brother who was with us (he was about fifteen, I think), and figured he could get us for curfew violations. He sent that guy home, then asked another guy his age.
When did you move to Ramallah?
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
Are curfew laws uncommon? In St. Louis County:
"It is unlawful for any minor under the age of seventeen years to loiter, idle, wander, stroll or to drive or ride in an automobile, or play in or upon the public streets, highways, roads, alleys, parks, playgrounds, wharves, docks, or other public grounds, public places and public buildings, places of amusement and entertainment, vacant lots or other unsupervised places, between the hours of 11:00 P.M. and 6:00 A.M. of the following day, official County time, except on Fridays and Saturdays when the hours shall be 12:00 midnight to 6:00 A.M. of the following day, official County time, except that this Section does not apply to a minor accompanied by his or her parent, guardian, or other adult person having the care and custody of the minor, or when the minor is upon an emergency errand or legitimate business directed by his or her parent, guardian, or other adult person having the care and custody of the minor."
Posted by The_Tom (Member # 38) on :
Wow. Living in the crucible of freedom seems to have its perks.
Posted by Styrofoaman (Member # 706) on :
We have a town here in New York. Some of you may have heard of it. Palmyra.
The cops here do nothing but randomly pull over cars and torment people. Yes torment.
It's rather sad. The townspeople are afraid to do anything about it so it just goes on and on and on. If you have to drive from Macedon to Newark or Lyons, you end up having to take a bypass around the stinking town otherwise they'll haul you in for questioning for no fing reason. (Lived there for 2 years... don't get me started on how they "mark" cars or thier random apartment search policies...)
Now, don't get me wrong... I respect the police. Very much so. The NY State Troopers are some of the nicest folks that I've ever met. Heck, that cop who pulled me over for doing 80 in a 55 was very polite. (Let me off because I had a hurt person in my car).
It's just the "Local Enforcer" ones I dislike.
Posted by Ritten (Member # 417) on :
Sty, something seems a little unconstitutional there....
Posted by Styrofoaman (Member # 706) on :
quote:Originally posted by Ritten: Sty, something seems a little unconstitutional there....
Which is why we moved far far away. Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
quote:Originally posted by Styrofoaman: Heck, that cop who pulled me over for doing 80 in a 55 was very polite. (Let me off because I had a hurt person in my car).
Asked and answered in one statement.
Posted by Grokca (Member # 722) on :
quote:Wow. Living in the crucible of freedom seems to have its perks.
TFF, more I read stuff Americans write the gladder I am that I live in Canada.
Posted by Snay (Member # 411) on :
quote:The cops here do nothing but randomly pull over cars and torment people. Yes torment.
This was posted on another forum, and I think it answers Stryofoam Brain's idiotic statement quite well:
quote:It is not easy. In California we average one cop for every 2000 people. About 60% of those cops are on patrol, where we do most of the harassing. One-fifth of that 60% are on duty at any moment and available for harassing people. So, one cop is responsible to harass about 10,000 residents. When you toss in the commercial, business, and tourist locations that attract people from other areas, sometimes you have a situation where a single cop is responsible to harass 20k or more people a day.
A ten-hour shift runs 36,000 seconds. This gives a cop one-second to harass a person, and three-fourths of a second to eat a donut AND find a new person to harass.
This is not an easy task. Most cops are not up to it day in and day out. It is just too tiring. What we do is utilize some tools to help us narrow down those which we harass. They are as follows:
PHONE: People will call us up and point out things that cause us to focus on a person for special harassment. "My neighbor is beating his wife" is a code phrase we use. Then we come out and give special harassment. Another popular one on a week night is, "The kids next door are having a party."
CARS: We have special cops assigned to harass people who drive. They like to harass the drivers of fast cars, cars blasting music, cars with expired registration tabs, and the like. It is lots of fun when you pick them out of traffic for nothing more obvious than running a red light. Sometimes you get to really heap the harassment on when you find they have drugs in the car, are drunk, or have a warrant.
RUNNERS: Some people take off running just at the sight of a police officer. Nothing is quite as satisfying as running after them like a beagle on the scent of a bunny. When you catch them you can harass them for hours.
CODES: When you can think of nothing else to do, there are books that give ideas for reasons to harass folks. They are called Codes. Penal, Vehicle, Health and Safety, Business and Professions, etc. They all spell out all sorts of things for which you can really mess with people. After you read the code, you can just drive around for a while until you find someone violating one of these listed offenses and harass them. Just last week I saw a guy smash a car window. Well, the code says that is not allowed. That meant I got to harass this guy.
It is a pretty cool system that we have set up, and it works pretty well. I seem to have a never-ending supply of folks to harass. And we get away with it because the good citizens who pay the tab like that we keep the streets safe for them.
Next time you are in my town, give me a single finger wave. That is a signal that you wish for me to take a little closer look at you, and maybe find a reason to harass you. Looking forward to meeting you.
Posted by Styrofoaman (Member # 706) on :
Heh.
Problem is Palmyra PD is a dumping ground for officers fired or let go from other police departments. Lots of disgruntled cops. Doesn't help that the town also doesn't pay it's officers squat. I remember hearing at a town meeting that they were making about the same as a Burger-King worker.
Add that with human nature and you get the situation mentioned posts above.
Ah well. This is why we set up shop in Fairport. The people are much nicer there.
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
So, what's the code phrase that tells a cop he should threaten to beat a guy w/ his Maglite for trying to help his friend whose car broke down?
Posted by Fleet-Admiral Michael T. Colorge (Member # 144) on :
Wow, makes me think now about the LAPD in a different light...
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