Criminal logo

Unlawful and Disorder

Matt has been working on the force for nearly four years, but the events that unfold in Vancouver was certainly on a scale he had never seen before.

By Jesse LeungPublished 2 years ago Updated 2 years ago 15 min read
Like

Driving slightly above the speed limit between the buildings of downtown Vancouver, corporal Pickering of the RCMP was on his daily patrols, looking for any trouble needing attending to. He was glad he was assigned to the downtown area, as the vibrant life of the urban city hummed and buzzed with activity, with never a dull moment. For the most part, things were just as usual, with most crimes happening later in the night under the cover of darkness. It had always puzzled him how such affluence and poverty could be located so close in proximity to one another, with expensive high rises on one side next to derelict masonry buildings on the other. Perhaps the permission to let poverty exist there reminded the rich of how much better off they were than the needy.

Taking a slow turn onto Robson Street, Matt patrolled the many restaurants filled with deep pocketed patrons finishing up their lunch meals and trickling back to their workplaces.

“Unit two-o-four we have a ten-seventy-two happening at Granville and Nelson Street. Use caution, suspect is armed and dangerous.”

“Ten-four, unit two-o-four on route.”

Blaring his sirens and rushing quickly to the site, Matt arrived at a chaotic scene, where shattered glass was laying everywhere and inside, screams could still be heard as the robbery was in progress. Turning off his lights and sirens to keep his presence undetected, he assessed the situation before taking any action.

Opening his door and drawing his standard handgun, he slowly got out of the car and moved from one area to another, keeping his cover. Radioing for backup, he was close enough to hear the perpetrator making demands in the store, yelling at the frightened civilians.

“Give me all the money in the cash register or I’ll blow out this guy’s brains!”

Handing over several hundred dollars, the thief sneered at the meager offering. “If you tell me that’s all you have in your cash registers, you must take me for an idiot. Here, let’s make this strike number one…”

Pang!

The lifeless man crumpled to the floor and blood spilled from his bullet wound, staining the tiled ground crimson. People huddled in fright at the murderous vigilante, hoping for their own sake not be the next hostage.

Grabbing an elderly lady by her hair, the robber demanded more cash once again, unsatisfied with the earlier payment. “If you don’t give me all your money, this woman will be warning number two!”

Matt inched forward towards the entrance, careful about the shards of glass and not wanting to alert the suspect of his presence. Rounding the corner, he could get a clear shot at the robber, and with his gun trained on him, he shouted out, ordering the thief to surrender. “This is the police, put your weapon down now!”

Turning around, the suspect aimed his pistol at Matt, who instinctively shot the robber’s leg, causing him to flinch and be shocked for a moment. That moment was all that was needed for Matt to take down the suspect, and within seconds, the whole robbery was over and the thief was in custody.

Arriving back at the station, all the corporals were applauding the four-year veteran and he was all smiles, trying to modestly deflect the praise.

“Thanks guys, I’m sure any of you would have done the same.”

Watching as the sergeant came over and patted his back, Matt was just glad that it was finally over, and that he could officially take the rest of the day off and watch the nail-biting sixth game between the hockey teams from Vancouver and Boston.

Driving back home to his Burnaby apartment, he took the elevator up and held the door for an elderly lady carrying her groceries.

“Why thank you, young man, that’s very kind of you.”

Beaming at the complement, Matt couldn’t help but think of the elderly woman the robber was holding hostage, and he wondered how she must have felt being in such danger.

As the elevator stopped at the woman’s floor, she thanked him again and walked out, but not before dropping a persimmon fruit. After the doors closed, Matt suddenly saw the fruit on the ground, he opened the door once again, but by this time the lady was gone and he was left holding the persimmon by himself. Taking it back to his apartment, he set it on the kitchen table and got ready to wash up before settling down for dinner and the hockey game. Taking a frozen lasagna and putting it in the oven with a timer, he then proceeded to shower, changed into his casual attire and checked on the cook of his pasta.

Turning on the fifty-inch flat screen television, he sat back on the couch as he waited for the game to start after the evening news finished. The local news anchor was covering robbery he had just thwarted that day, and several witnesses were interviewed during the story.

Unfortunately, one man in his forties was shot and killed by the suspect, who was eventually shot in the leg and captured by law enforcement. Family and friends of the victim are holding a candlelight vigil later this evening to honour the man’s life.

Hearing the timer go off from his oven, he first turned on the exhaust fans before opening the oven and taking out the hot, cheesy lasagna. Cutting the pasta in half, he served it onto a dish and plopped down on the couch as the hockey game was about to start with the singing of the national anthems. Blowing on each morsel on his fork, he was careful not to burn himself with the piping hot lasagna, but it was hard not to bolt down the scrumptious food.

Watching the face-off start in favour of the hometown team of Vancouver, Matt cheered on enthusiastically, not knowing what he enjoyed more, watching his team win or eating the delicious lasagna. Pretty soon his energy for routing for his team was drained and he couldn’t avoid the hopeless feeling as the Boston team scored yet another point, making it five to two. The Vancouver team had two chances so far to win the series, but had lost, to Matt’s disappointment. It would require a seventh and final tie-breaker to see who would win the cup, and seeing that the next match was to be on home soil, Matt checked his schedule to see if he could go watch the game at the rink. Unfortunately, he had a late-night shift that day, and would not be able to make the game. However, he set his PVR to record the game on Wednesday and he would watch it after his shift ended.

After washing the dishes and getting his uniform ready for tomorrow, he retired to his bed, surrounded by posters and toy figurines of his favourite hockey heroes.

Cooking up a quick breakfast before driving to work, he arrived at the station and greeted all his buddies, and in particular Laura, the new recruit whom he had wanted to ask out. Always feeling tongue tied when talking with her, she merely chucked at his affection and kept everything professional, so as not to be a distraction from work.

“Err…hey Laura! Glad to…um…see you. Funny, I…I don’t usually st-studder.”

Giving him a thumbs-up, Laura and Matt both focused on the sergeant as he gave out the day’s assignments for all the officers.

“Now as you all know, we’ve been preparing for the hockey game tomorrow since we’re expecting thousands of fans to arrive in the afternoon and evening. We’ll be stationing extra units when that day comes and most of today’s job is to erect barriers and cameras in key locations. We don’t want a repeat of what happened in nineteen-ninety-four so everyone, be alert and on guard. That’s all, you’re dismissed.”

Walking with his partner Chuck to get started on their surveillance setup duties, Matt hoped that tomorrow’s game would end peacefully. “I hope they don’t have to call in the riot police…those guys always get in the way.”

“Huh, and miss out on all the fun? Watching them fend off the hooligans is like watching a TV show doncha think?”

Climbing into the police cruiser Matt shook his head. “Tell that to one of the riot guys, it’s no imaginary TV show, that’s for sure. At least not for them. You got all the equipment ready for setting up?”

“Ten-four, all cameras and stands accounted for!”

“You only need to say that if you’re on a radio bud.”

“Spoilsport!”

Driving off towards the large sports arena hosting the hockey game later tomorrow, they unpacked all the monitoring gear and proceeded to set it up near the large screen that was intended to broadcast the game to crowds outside the stadium.

“Wouldn’t mind having one of those at my house, ha ha.”

Chuckling at his partner’s wish, Matt added how he would use such a screen, “Imagine playing a videogame on a screen that big! Wouldn’t it be awesome?”

“Meh, I don’t think much of videogames, but watching movies with that full screen would be pretty rad.”

Carefully setting up the cameras for which to monitor a three-sixty view of the entire area, they resembled a lamppost with a small circular ball at the tip where the rotatable lens was located. Unpacking another monitoring station by the portable washrooms, they spent the rest of the day making sure the feed from the cameras was connected to headquarters back at the station. Logging their completion of the task assigned to them, they headed off back to the station for lunch, which was provided by the cafeteria.

“Heads up man, there’s Laura over there. Hey, don’t be so nervous, just be yourself man!” Nudging Matt’s shoulder, he walked off leaving his partner to figure out how what to say to his crush.

Walking nervously to Laura’s table, Matt politely asked if anyone was sitting with her, and if he could sit with her.

“Sure thing Matt, have a seat. How was your assignment today?”

“Boring. All we did was set up cameras around the stadium and ensure that they were online before we decided to get some lunch. What did you do today?”

“We were on patrol duty, monitoring for any trafficking of drugs. Managed to bag a small drug dealer on Hastings Street. I wonder if we’ll ever get one of the big fish out there, a major supplier of drugs that is.”

Swallowing some mash potato, Matt added his opinion to the conversation, “Big fish out there are slippery, near impossible to hold onto or catch. But they do have one weakness; most bad guys up top think they are above the law, and their complacency makes them vulnerable to be caught.”

“That’s a good insight. Alright, my break’s over, see you later Matt.”

As he watched her leave, he failed to notice his partner coming up behind him and slapping him on his back while laughing out loud. “Ho ho, you two are hitting it off man!”

Wolfing down the rest of his lunch quickly so he could escape the embarrassing setting, he rushed out amidst laughter from the rest of the team.

Hurrying after his partner, Chuck ran to catch up to him and continued laughing as Matt’s ears were bright red from the uncomfortable exposure of his affection for Laura.

“So where are we headed partner?”

“Sarge wants us to head out to patrol the harbour near English bay. Apparently there’s been some people drinking alcohol and getting drunk in public.”

“Ugh, dealing with drunk people is the worst…not to mention they puke all over the car too.”

“Well, it’s a dirty job, but someone’s gotta do it.”

Speeding off west to the popular beach, they arrived there in less than twenty minutes and got out in the hot afternoon summer sun. Donning their signature sunglasses, they walked among the beachgoers, looking for any signs of people who were drunk or drinking liquor in public. Throngs of people lay sunbathing in the warmth while others waded into the cold ocean water. Kids could be seen making sandcastles, and the elderly found their contentment in feeding the seagulls.

Approaching a group of young adults, they immediately stopped upon seeing the two officers and did an about-face, fast-walking away from Matt and Chuck, who immediately rushed to intercept the group who were visibly intoxicated.

“Hold it there, this is the police. You guys there, stop!”

After handing out tickets to each of the members of the group who broke the drinking bylaw, they headed back to the station as their shift was about to end. Driving past the towering

high-rises, Matt suddenly noticed pillows of smoke emanating from the downtown area near the stadium.

“Hey Chuck, do you see that smoke over there?”

Taking off his sunglasses, Chuck scratched his head in confusion as he couldn’t see any smoke at all. “Negative Matt, nothing on my side.”

Shaking his head, he looked again and the smoke was gone, as if it were some figment of imagination in Matt’s mind.

Taking off his uniform and taking it back home to wash, he exited the changeroom and ran into Laura who was also just leaving the women’s changeroom.

“Oh, er…hi Laura. Off work too eh?”

“Yes, it looks like we’re both off work. Are you working the day shift tomorrow?”

“Naw, I have the night shift, gotta keep those hockey fans behaving ha ha.”

“See you around then,” Waving goodbye to him, she carried on walking out of the station while Matt lugged his laundry to his car; smiling at the conversation he had with his secret sweetheart. Driving to his apartment, he decided to drop by Metrotown and pick up some groceries before heading home.

Carrying his work laundry and enough food to sink a ship, he struggled to get in the door before setting everything down and breathing a sigh of relief. Eating a freshly made salad of spinach and cranberries with sunflower seeds, he double checked his PVR box to make sure the game was set to be recorded for tomorrow night. Clearing the dishes, he washed up and set his washing machine to start before crashing on his bed and sleeping after a tiring day.

The next afternoon, the entire night shift crew were anticipating what would happen after the hockey game, and there was much speculation that another riot might occur if the Vancouver team were to lose. Walking to the front with a solemn face, the sergeant didn’t mince words as he explained the direness of the situation. “Guys, tonight is the night, riot or no riot I want today to be a safe and orderly day, so please keep alert and make sure to follow all protocols alright? Now let’s hope there won’t be a repeat of nineteen-ninety-four. You’re dismissed.”

Paired up with Chuck again, they drove towards the stadium and were amazed at the waves of people crowded into such a small place. A sea of blue jerseys was evident and he had to park his cruiser as there were too many people in the streets to drive past. Radioing control, he confirmed all was calm at the moment and that everyone was still behaving well.

Putting his hands behind his head, Chuck asked if he could take a nap jokingly. But Matt did not share the same optimism for peace that his partner had, and something inside him kept telling him this was just the calm before the storm.

“All units, be on alert. The Vancouver hockey team had just lost. Be advised that rioting might occur and must be extinguished quickly to avoid spreading to the crowds.”

Getting out of their cruiser, the officers watched in horror was people started throwing bottles at the large screen and jumping on top of the portable toilets, knocking them over. Unable to do anything against such numbers, the officers radioed for riot backup and retreated to their blockade a little further away.

Matt winced as he saw the crowds start to descend upon his cruiser, trying to roll it over. He couldn’t help but wonder if the rioters even considered the safety of themselves as they tried to roll over the car, and he shook his head at the disarray of the situation. Finally, they achieved their goal of rolling over of the cruiser, they then proceeded to take photos of themselves on top of the car, and they torched it, setting the car ablaze.

Behind him, riot police were gearing up, taking precious time to prepare while the rioters looted and damaged property all around the downtown area. The stern faces of the officers showed evidence of disappointment in society, ashamed of what their fellow Vancouverites were doing to their own city.

Matt could still hear in his head the Sarge’s warning before their shift started;

Now let’s hope there won’t be a repeat of nineteen-ninety-four.

Unfortunately, in this case, history had indeed repeated itself, despite all the preparation, organization and mitigation to prevent it from occurring. Matt only hoped that people would learn and avoid such a behavioral travesty from occurring in Vancouver again so that society might have a future overseen by law and order instead of chaos and rebellion.

The End

guilty
Like

About the Creator

Jesse Leung

A tech savvy philosopher interested in ethics, morals and purpose.

Reader insights

Be the first to share your insights about this piece.

How does it work?

Add your insights

Comments

There are no comments for this story

Be the first to respond and start the conversation.

Sign in to comment

    Find us on social media

    Miscellaneous links

    • Explore
    • Contact
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms of Use
    • Support

    © 2024 Creatd, Inc. All Rights Reserved.