Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - June 12, 2012, Winnipeg, Manitoba C M Y K PAGE B1 $ 1 50 STARTING FROM Offer valid until September 28, 2012. Additional charges for extras. Valid at participating restaurants. Prepared fresh. � 2012 Doctor's Associates Inc. SUBWAY � is a registered trademark of Doctor's Associates Inc. Printed in Canada. Canadian version CHOOSE ONE OF OUR HUNGER- FIGHTING SNACKS! CITY & BUSINESS CITY EDITOR: PAUL SAMYN 697- 7292 city. desk@ freepress. mb. ca I winnipegfreepress. com TUESDAY, JUNE 12, 2012 B 1 WINNIPEG firefighters may no longer be part of a team that investigates whether a house or garbage- bin fire has been deliberately set. Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service Chief Reid Douglas said the department launched an internal review of its six- person fire investigations unit in April to determine whether it should remain a part of the Winnipeg Arson Strike Force. The force was created in 1999 as a temporary unit to solve and stop the rash of arsons that had swept through the city and gave Winnipeg the moniker arson capital of Canada. It is made up of officers from the police major crimes unit, firefighters and the provincial fire commissioner's office. Douglas, who was appointed chief last December, said the review is part of a broader department- wide analysis he initiated to ensure the department makes the best use of taxpayer dollars. Douglas said the fire paramedic service has six investigators who are part of the arson strike force and are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to help determine whether a fire is suspicious. If the department's fire investigators rule a blaze may have been deliberately set, provincial investigators from the Office of the Fire Commissioner are called to the scene, Douglas said. " We're looking at duplication of service. We send fire investigators, the province sends fire investigators, the police send fire investigators and the insurance companies send fire investigators," Douglas said. " So basically what we're doing is assisting the fire commissioner's office." Douglas said the issue boils down to who should be responsible for investigating fires. Before the creation of the arson strike force, the fire department's district fire chief would determine whether a blaze was suspicious and phone the provincial fire commissioner's office to investigate further, he said. The City of Winnipeg spends $ 700,000 a year to fund the six firefighters who are part of the arson strike force. Douglas said taxpayers pay for the unit's building, equipment and salaries. He called the cost " significant" and said the department wants to determine whether the money could be better spent on something such as fire prevention or education. " It's not that fires are not going to get investigated. Nothing's going to change. The only thing that's going to change is our involvement in it," he said. Protection and community services committee chairwoman Coun. Paula Havixbeck ( Charleswood- Tuxedo) said it's a good time to re- evaluate the fire department's role in the arson strike force. Havixbeck said Winnipeg's garbage and recycling overhaul is expected to cut down on the amount of bulky waste on city streets and reduce the number of opportunities for firebugs. Earlier this year, a city report revealed more than one- fifth of all fires set last year were related to trash. It determined Winnipeg should continue to educate citizens and work with solid- waste management to address concerns about bulky waste in neighbourhoods. Winnipeg recorded 229 arsons between July and August 2011 - the highest number of monthly arsons reported in a five- year period. Havixbeck said Winnipeg will deliver garbage and recycling carts over the next three months and get rid of inner- city autobins, which are routinely filled with bulky waste and attract arsonists. " If we can eliminate the opportunities, then we reduce the arson as well," Havixbeck said. " It will be a huge help if we get all that bulky waste out of there." Havixbeck said the fire department is well- equipped to address the arson problem, and she trusts they will determine which model will work best for the city. Douglas expects the internal review will be complete by September. jen. skerritt@ freepress. mb. ca W HAT would you do? I mean, what would you do if someone stole your $ 700 mountain bike - and your fianc�e's $ 600 model - and you called police with the kind of lead you didn't have to be Sherlock Holmes to follow. But then you got the feeling police weren't interested in following it. Well, I'll tell you what 33- year- old Rejean Robert did. It was Saturday, just after the lunch hour, when Rejean's soon- to- be wife Brenda Harder saw the note posted on the front door of their Fort Rouge apartment block. The note had been left by a neighbour who, about an hour earlier, had seen two thieves make off with four bikes that had been locked under an apartment fire escape. The witness, who could be the poster boy for Neighbourhood Watch, contacted police and took photographs of the thieves pulling off one of the most common and frustrating Winnipeg crimes. Not only that, but he made like a cop and trailed them in his vehicle and watched as they hauled the bikes to a walk- up apartment on Corydon. Minus one of the bikes, which he found stashed in the bush and returned to the owner. But that's only part of the story. While patrol officers responded that same afternoon, Rejean and Brenda were taken aback by what one of the officers told them. " They said it was very unlikely they were going to recover our bikes," Rejean recalled Monday morning. Police had a witness who had given them a statement. Plus photographs of the crime in progress. And the nearby address where the bikes had been taken. But that didn't seem to be enough to track down their bikes the same day. " That basically told me they weren't going to go and look," Rejean said. " I didn't know what to do at that point." By late Sunday afternoon, a day later, he'd had enough of waiting for the police to do nothing. So he and Brenda paid a visit to the apartment block on Corydon where their bikes had last been seen. As luck would have it, the apartment caretaker was working outside. Rejean told the caretaker why they were there and showed him the photos their neighbour had taken of the theft. The caretaker recognized the people in the photographs right away. Rejean said the caretaker told them there was what amounts to a bicycle chop shop being run out of the one of the apartments in the block he looks after, and he had reported it to police more than once. But they didn't respond. Rejean asked the caretaker if police had stopped by that weekend to investigate their complaint. " He said they never came by." Then the caretaker invited them into the block to see what he would have shown police if they had contacted him. It was a basement storage locker packed with bikes and bike parts. The caretaker asked Rejean if he wanted to see if their bikes were there. Rejean said yes. Brenda said no. " She was too scared to go up." Rejean was nervous, too. He didn't know if they had a gun or a knife, or what would happen. But since the caretaker was with him, Rejean climbed the stairs. There, propped up in the hall, Rejean spotted what he recognized right away as Brenda's bike. The caretaker knocked on the door. And when a young man opened the door, there were more bike parts and more bikes, but nothing that resembled his. The young man in the apartment said he had paid $ 50 for it, so it was his. By that time, hearing the dispute in progress, Brenda had joined them. The guy in the apartment was demanding to see their purchase receipt for the bike he'd just bought. Rejean and Brenda said they wanted to see his. And then Rejean and Brenda called his bluff. They suggested they call police and the cops could resolve it. At which point the dispute over the bike was resolved, because the guy with all the bikes and bike parts wanted nothing to do with police. What he didn't know, though, is apparently the police didn't want anything to do with the guy in the apartment, either. Police didn't return repeated requests for comment on Monday. But late Monday afternoon, Rejean called to say he had just received a text from the neighbour who witnessed the crime in progress, took the photos and followed the thieves. He had been contacted by police, and a detective was coming to see him. To take notes, no doubt. Which is what I did when I finally reached the poster boy for Neighbourhood Watch Monday. And he said this: " I did what I hope any neighbour would do." gordon. sinclair@ freepress. mb. ca City firefighters could leave arson strike force By Jen Skerritt GORDON SINCLAIR JR. Chop shop but no cop Bike thieves' pictures and address seem insufficient for police JOHN WOODS / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Rejean Robert and Brenda Harder stand with the bicycle they recovered themselves after both their bikes were stolen on the weekend. They tracked it down after police seemed to take little interest in the case. HANDOUT In a photo taken by a neighbour, a man leaves the building where Rejean Robert lives with two bikes. 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