Top cop wants public to ‘comply’ with thugs during home invasions

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Just “hide and comply” and maybe the armed intruders invading your house will not hurt you or your family. 

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That’s York Regional Police Chief Jim MacSween’s recommendation to the public following the gutless murder of 46-year-old dad, Abdul Aleem Farooqi. 

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Easy for him to say. It wasn’t MacSween who had masked bandits pointing a gun at his four-year-old daughter. 

“In the unlikely event that you find yourself a victim of a home invasion, we are urging citizens not take matters into their own hands,” the chief said at a news conference Wednesday. “While we don’t want homeowners to feel powerless, we urge you to call 911 and do everything you can to keep yourself and loved ones safe until police arrive and be the best witness possible.” 

But when will police arrive? 

York Regional Police have not yet commented with how long it took to respond to this Vaughan distress call Sunday? While unconfirmed, people close to this family say there was at least a 13-minute wait for police to arrive and that the original call was made before the killers had even breached the home. 

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Wait for police? 

In addition to a criminal investigation, there should be a coroner’s inquest into Farooqi’s slaying so every part can be reviewed.

The chief seemed tone deaf while addressing a disgusted community, shaken that a wonderful father of four, respected businessman and much-loved member of  Vaughan’s Muslim community could be gunned down at 1 a.m. inside his own home by bandits looking for valuables. No matter how it’s spun, this was not this dad’s fault.

It’s all on the bad guys and a system that does not punish them.

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Suggesting that we bow to the criminal element reminds me of the time a cop suggested that people  leave keys at the front door for the carjackers. 

While this is a good and respected chief who gets a lot of things right, he got this one wrong. His by-the-book messaging is falling on deaf ears from a public who has had enough.

When the courts routinely let offenders out of custody and there aren’t enough cops to quickly respond to all the crimes, few want to listen to any more advice from the system telling them to lay down and let the criminals have their way with you, your car or home or your family. 

They are done with that. 

The chief suggests one of the ways to obey criminals “could be locking yourself in a room away from the perpetrators, hiding, fleeing the home” but he suggests “don’t engage unless absolutely necessary.” 

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It’s not helpful. It’s not realistic. He’s not gauging the mood of the moment as well as Premier Doug Ford. The premier has not only stood up for people confronting criminals, but has called for laws to be changed to allow people to protect themselves in their homes. 

While Ford called the people who killed Aleem “Scumbags,” MacSween, who also argued that “crime is down” in many sectors, referred to them as “suspects.” 

Crime is certainly not down in the past two weeks in York Region. 

Saying he’s been down to Queen’s Park himself to fight for bail reform, MacSween added the powers that be have not been able to “move the needle.”

He said that “the premier can make his own statement and mind up about that” but “what I would say is  — as a police service — we will follow the laws as a written. If the laws change, we’ll change with the laws, but as it stands, we know the best defence for most people is to comply.” 

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Comply? Should they fly a white flag over their homes?

He added: “You just heard a number of safety recommendations (that) will allow for those that are victimizing members of the community to leave and not hurt anyone.” 

What he’s really saying is the gangsters are in charge and if you don’t upset them, do what they ask — if you are lucky — they will spare you from their violence. 

Said the chief: “When we have a weekend like we just had, it’s easy to understand our community is feeling unsafe, but let me say this once again: This does remain a safe place to live and our service is doing everything possible to investigate these crimes and maintain public safety.” 

It’s not safe. The Farooqi’s know it. Everybody knows it — everybody but Chief MacSween. 

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