Re: “Loss of life a huge price to pay for broken system: Watts.”
The murder of 17-year-old Serena Vermeersch is a horrific crime. People are understandably outraged and the accusations of culpability are deafening.
Predictably there are no shortage of fingers happy to blame “a broken system.” This tendency to scapegoat is misguided.
Was the justice system at fault? The judge who gave Raymond Caissie a 22-year sentence noted at sentencing that he was “a very serious danger to the public” and would likely offend again.
The police were able to give a warning about his location in Surrey and the mayor was indignant at the time, but within legal parameters, there was nothing left to be done.
Perhaps this offence is a result of inadequate policing?
Certainly there will be political opportunists to suggest that option. Coun. Barinder Rasode, running for mayor of Surrey, has based a large part of her campaign on it.
Few would argue that an area the size and complexity of Surrey needs more police officers.
Unfortunately, sick and aberrant offenders have always been present in society and they will never disappear. But would that mean that there would have been a police officer, in that park, at that moment, to save Serena? Not likely.
As much as we would like, the justice system will never be able to fully contain predators.
The politicians should spare the public their moral outrage and “broken system” pronouncements particularly as they are, after all, the system.
Ms. Vermeersch’s murder is a heinous crime. Pretending that we could have prevented it is a further insult to her young life.
Alexis Statz