More than a week after vandals smashed the windshield on a cab parked outside a local dispatch station and threatened a dispatcher's life, the taxi company owner says he still hasn't heard from police.
“They haven't been to see us or anything. I find it very strange,” says John Sanders Sr., the owner of Aaron Taxi. “I don't know what to say about the police force in this town. It's pretty poor.”
The incident happened around 3 am on Monday, Sept. 4. Graveyard shift taxi dispatcher William Farnham was taking calls at his desk when he heard a crash and saw two youths vandalizing a cab.
“I looked out the window and I saw one kid jumping off one of our cars and one jumping up onto the windshield. Within 10 seconds I was onto the phone to the police. I gave them directions to where they were going,” says Farnham, 43.
“My boss pulled in from taking a driver home, and I told him to look at the car, and he was going to go run after them. I told him no because he's pushing 70 years old. I don't want him getting beaten up. I told him to take care of the desk, and I ran after (the vandals) across the Elgin St. footbridge.
“When I got across the bridge, there were six of them sitting there. I'm by myself, so I'm not going to take on six younger people. One of them said, 'I'll put a damn bullet in your brain.' I tried to get a license plate off of the vehicle they were in, but they were smart enough not to turn their lights on until they were far enough away.”
Farnham ran back to his workplace, phoned the police again, and told them what had happened.
“I was expecting somebody to show up to take some kind of statement. This happened (last week), and nobody has showed up at our office to take any information. There was no response at all,” he says.
“Pardon my language, but it pisses me off. They call us when they have a problem with somebody, and they expect us to just hand over the information. Right now, I'm very disenchanted with the police. How would you feel if your life was threatened, and they didn't even do anything?”
The taxi company's insurance covered the $350 it cost to replace the cab's smashed windshield. It took Aaron employees about two hours to clean up broken glass scattered in the parking lot.
Greater Sudbury Police spokesperson Const. Bert Lapalme says two officers were dispatched after the first call, but didn't stop to talk to Farnham because they were looking for the suspects.
"Information that was later received was that the people involved were also involved in other situations elsewhere, so officers attending the scene were looking for a specific vehicle in the area."
If there's a report of vandalism, an officer might take a statement from victims over the phone a few days later, he says. If death threats are involved, that "should be dealt with sooner rather than later."
He's not sure why Farnham and Sanders haven't heard from police.
Police are looking into why they haven't been questioned, says Insp. Gene Toffoli.
“Whenever there's an allegation that maybe there's been an error by police, it goes to the professional standards branch for investigation. That's what has transpired in this case,” he says.
“The results of the professional standards investigation are reported to the chief of police, and then a determination is made as to whether there's been any mistakes or neglect. We have to look into everything and review the tapes at our communications centre.”
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