City
This pit is now safe? 14 alleged swarmers arrested
Following on the entry from a couple of weeks ago about group swarmings in public parks, the Star is reporting that Toronto Police have arrested 14 youths in connection with the swarm attacks.
All of the arrested individuals are young offenders and as such their names will be protected; Toronto Police is holding a press conference later today to discuss the arrests. The swarmings took place mostly in Dufferin Grove Park and Christie Pits and involved physical assault as well as theft.
OK, it doesn't guarantee 100% safety for all peoplekind in Christie Pits after dark, but it's nice to see these alleged muggers taken off the streets for the time being.
Photo, "Christie Pits Panorama," by sjgardiner, as seen in the blogTO Flickr pool.
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These kids are innocent until they have a trial. Swarmings are not half as dangerous as the assumption that because someone has been arrested, they are guilty.
Just be a bit responsible. Just a little bit. That's all I'm saying.
I doubt it's the same group travelling all the way to Milton, so I have to wonder what this represents. Coincidence, or are swarmings becoming unusually popular this summer among groups of young criminals?..
"Guilty or innocent, the arrests will have a calming effect on the community, methinks."
Are you saying that innocent people should be arrested if it calms the community? I don't get your point.
Actually, not according to Google, or to Google News. I certainly never heard of this practice before I moved here from Montreal in the '80s.
It seems to be a uniquely Toronto (or GTA) thing. Or maybe other parts of the English-speaking world just don't have such a colourful term for it.
We're clearly all on the same page and understand that these kids are not yet proven guilty, and until they are, they are not guilty. No one has even been named here, so I'm not sure why you're getting in a huff over this.
For God's sake, the police didn't even need to give their press conference before BlogTO declared Christie Pits safe. It's totally irresponsible.
The title error was mine. I make no presumption of the guilt of the arrested parties, and thanks to Jerrold for changing it in my absence.
My presumption was merely that the immediate issue of these swarmings, which prompted the police warning, has been temporarily "resolved," or at least direct action has been taken.
Swarming took off in Halifax in about 2005. I'd never heard anything like it for years, then nearly everyone I spoke to had some incident to report. A horrible one just happened there the other day.
It's crazy how often headlines in newspapers suggest guilt, especially on the more serious/violent crimes. Libel laws in Canada don't seem to get exercised very often in connection with headlines much, so the media doesn't seem to change.
Several people were hospitalized with serious injuries that require dedicated physio rehab.
I live in this neighborhood, and yes, I'm glad the people they arrested are off the streets. Want my wallet? Fine, you can have my wallet over my kids not having a father. But beating me down *after* i give you my wallet? F*ck you, go away for life.
I especially hope we never meet up.
When you are doing something as deliberate as a swarm-attack, this is a planned thing, and something that kids SHOULD know better than doing.
Its one thing if its a stupid kid who swipes a CD from a store, or a school-yard fight - but its another thing when a kids who are in their late teens decide "Hey, its late night, we are bored, lack supervision - lets go out and gang up on people in a park", they deserve no protection that the young offenders act provides them.