The Vancouver Police Department launched a new website Tuesday dedicated solely to capturing suspects who participated in the Stanley Cup riot.
The site features 40 suspects wanted for a variety of crimes related to the riot which erupted downtown June 15 after the Vancouver Canucks lost Game 7 to the Boston Bruins.
Well be adding more than 100 photos over the next month or two, said Insp. Les Yeo, who unveiled the site Tuesday with Police Chief Jim Chu at the Cambie Street police station.
The site allows people to submit photos and videos of the riot and provides a phone number for rioters wanting to turn themselves in for participating in the mayhem.
Yeo described the site as an investigative tool that officers will use in the ongoing probe into the riot. The site will also be featured on the front page of the VPDs annual report that will be released in the Vancouver Sun.
So far, 42 people have turned themselves in to police and investigators have more than 1,100 names of people they suspect were involved in various crimes related to the riot.
In yet another attempt to explain why no charges have been approved since the riot, Chu said officers are still compiling evidence and will not rush to justice.
To support his explanation, Chu provided a scenario where two people turn themselves in and both plead guilty to charges of damaging a police car and participating in a riot.
Well right now, both know the police havent processed the 1,600 hours of video, the chief said. Both could say in court that they only did this one bad act and that they should be treated with leniency.
While that might be true for one of the suspects, Chu said, police may discover months from nowafter reviewing more videothe other accused was an instigator and engaged in many more serious acts.
But since the court will already have dealt with the rioting charge because he pleaded guilty early, we cant charge him with rioting again because of the legal rule of double jeopardy, Chu said.
The charge of participating in riot is a tougher charge to prove but Chu added that it is the most serious offence. In previous cases he reviewed, the chief said, one person received a sentence of almost one year in jail.
If were able to assemble collective actions over the whole evening and lay the charge of rioting, that will result in more serious penalties and the judges certainly have to look at previous court decisions, he added.
An independent review into the riot ordered by the B.C. government and endorsed the city and the Vancouver Police Board will be released Thursday.
mhowell@vancourier.com
Twitter: @Howellings
