Crime Prevention Versus Cultural Sensitivity

John Oakley: Political correctness trumps good police work

Any good crook will tell you that the safest way to fly under the radar is to be discreet and inconspicuous. So who could blame the Ontario Provincial Police officer up in Timmins, Ont., who flagged a couple of Asian guys from Toronto purchasing soil, rubber boots and a pressurized water sprayer. This one had grow-op written all over it.
Subsequent police surveillance proved the constable correct. Except that these two Chinese-Canadian “gentlemen farmers,” found in possession of 40,000 marijuana plants, wracking up hydro bills that fairly required a separate grid, effectively beat the rap, drawing minimal house arrest. They had been unjustly stereotyped, according to their lawyer.

The cops only drew a bead on them because, as Asian males, five hundred miles from the nearest Chinatown , Timmins OPP had “em unfairly profiled as part of an Asian grow-op ring.” So these “victims” skated. Has anyone considered that the real victim here is good old fashioned police-work? Common-sensical sleuthing that once involved instinct, intuition and a healthy dose of suspicion has now been sacrificed on the altar of cultural sensitivity.