Police pose as reporters to make arrest

Some people are giving the Vancouver Police Department grief for posing as reporters in order to make an arrest.

Here's why I think it was a good move on the VPD's part... the man they arrested was David Cunningham, spokesman for the Anti-Poverty Committee. They're a very disruptive group who want to stop the 2010 Olympic Games by any means necessary, saying that the money ought to be spent on social programs, rather than the Games. (think of Toronto's "Bread not Circuses") Now, I have no issue with their cause, but I have major problems with their tactics. Various groups have figured out that our legal system will allow them to get away with just about anything they want in order to get their message out... and regular people like you or I can't do a thing about it. (humm... maybe we need some new heavy-handed laws dealing with disruptive protesters? Just an idea...)

Anyway, the police want to arrest him for one of his stunts. He's nowhere to be found, and no one is talking. So, how do they flush him out? By appealing to this media hogs vanity... just set up an interview.

Classic!

And just so you realize the kind of person we're talking about here...

"Last week, Cunningham, a member of the Anti-Poverty Committee, organized a protest at offices of the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympics .

During the protest, he told the crowd that the committee knew where the Olympic organizers lived and worked and would take their demonstration directly to them."

Protesting at the offices is one thing... threatening to harass people in their own homes is something else.

I say it was a good move on the part of the police department.