Police Mistakes

Police Mistakes

There were several big mistakes the police made as far as finding and stopping Paul Bernardo goes. These can be summed up to massive incompetence on the officers part.  The first being that at the very beginning of the rapes before there ever was a  “Scarborough rapist” was that Bernardo was called into the police station but was never interviewed. In 1990, 2 months after the police had confirmed that Paul Bernardo matched the sketch of the rapist they asked him to come in for an interview. He volunteered to give DNA because he admitted he looked like the sketch.  Being the absolute joke of police officers that the interviewers were they concluded that such a nice young man couldn’t possibly be the rapist. Following the death of Tammy Holmolka the coroner and the family announced her death as accidental – this is despite the chemical burns from the Halothane on her face, somehow none of the police officers caught on to this blunder so Paul and Karla remained free for even longer.

Background and Tammy

Background

Paul Bernardos childhood was not one like you would expect. He was not abused or ever mistreated by his family and everyone always had said he was a bright, loving and cute little boy who always had a smile on his face. His father, however, was a child molester – he molested his own daughter as well as another young girl, he was subsequently charged. After these actions Bernardos mother became depressed causing her to withdraw from her family and move into their basement. When Bernardo was 16 his parents had a massive argument which revealed that he was not actually his father’s son and that she had cheated on his father during their marriage. This was the moment that caused him to hate and despise women which would eventually lead to him becoming a serial rapist. Paul was always charismatic and his natural good looks helped him in getting the affection of women as well, he worked for Amway which is among other things is a door-to-door sales company which taught him a variety of techniques on how to be convincing and seem trustful. When he was 23 Bernardo  met Karla Homolka who would support and unleash all the twisted and dark sexual fantasies Paul had developed in the last 8 years.

Tammy Homolka

Tammy Homolka was Karla’s 15 year old sister. Paul had always had a fascination with her. He would sneak into her room at night and masturbate, Karla helped him do this by taking the binds off her windows so Paul could enter. In 1990 Paul revealed that Karla had drugged her sister with Valium so that Paul could then and did rape her. On December 23^rd 1990, Karla drugged Tammy with 15 sleeping pills and once she was unconscious gave her Halothane which she had stolen from her work place at the the Martinedale Animal Clinic. Karla had wanted to give Paul Tammy’s virginity as a Christmas present because Paul was upset he had not been Karla’s first sexual partner. The pair began to tape Tammy as Paul raped her, they however had not anticipated that due to the heavy sedation Tammy was under that she could begin to vomit so badly that she would vomit and suffocate on it. They then dressed Tammy and moved her into the basement before calling the police. Tammy was later pronounced dead at the hospital without having regained consciousness.  

Micheal - CPTED Business

C.P.T.E.D. - Business

334 Seymour Street - All A-Board Games

This business is located on one of the main streets of Downtown Kamloops. Even though it is located on an open area, I found that the backdoor and interior to be of concern. 

Description

The rear door is left open during business hours at all times while being in an open alley way for vehicles to park and drive through. It also does not have a security camera facing the alleyway. At night this could be a problem as there is only one lock on the door and one light above the door.

Solution

Add a camera above or beside the door and have the back door only open from the inside. They can also add an extra lock to the door on the inside. They can also replace the high pressure sodium light with a 100 watt incandescent light.

Description

The front of the business has some paintings and some posters that are not see through and obstruct view of looking in and out. The business does have double pane windows. At night the owner does leave on some lights to ward off any potential thieves.

Solution

Add a camera above the front door and they could also add shutters and/or bars to cover the windows and door to better protect the business. They could also get see-through posters and move the shelves to a different part of the store. The idea of leaving lights on is a good one because if anyone were inside they would be spotted.

Description

The interior of the store is quite crowded in the front part but as you move more towards the back of the store, it is more open. There is only one security camera in the whole store and it is positioned near the rear end of the store and is half covered by a hanging poster. While its not a bad idea to have a hidden security camera, I got the chance to see the security screen and the camera captures three quarters of the store and a quarter of the poster. 

Solution

Add a few more cameras with no obstructions covering/blocking the view of the camera. Move some of the shelves towards the back and some of the tables to the front to balance out the room more. The reason this is suggested is because criminals could hide behind the shelves facing away from the window. This would give more open space is the front to see/report a robbery.

I got the chance to talk to the owner about the way he does and handles his business. He said he has had the business for a few years and has only been robbed a couple of times and a couple of attempts. He said that he is moving the business to a bigger location and redoing the layout and security so he does not have to suffer any more lost revenue. 

Kirstie- C.P.T.E.D-Residence

Residential Home- 660 Columbia Street, Kamloops BC

This home is located on one of the main streets in South Kamloops. 660 Columbia Street. I noticed that this house was very badly lighted, and had tall bushes that covered the entire frontage of the house, and along the sides. There was only a narrow gateway that allowed you only to see the narrow walkway leading up to the front door.

  

Description:

This is the side view of the front of the house, from the left side. Once again, the other lighting was on the edge of the house beside the neighbors. The entrance as you can see is the dark shadow in the middle of the bushes. None of the lighting from the street lamp is shining onto it.

Solution:   

They could put in a light by the gate. So that when someone is coming to the  house, or leaving there is a lighted walkway, and a clear lighted path to the doorway.

Description:

This is the side view of the front of the house, from the left side. Once again, the other lighting was on the edge of the house beside the neighbors. The entrance as you can see is the dark shadow in the middle of the bushes. None of the lighting from the street lamp is shining onto it.

Solution:   

They could put in a light by the gate. So that when someone is coming to the  house, or leaving there is a lighted walkway, and a clear lighted path to the doorway.

 

Description:

This picture is the view of the house from in front of the small gate. As you can see, it is quite narrow with no lighting. There is not a lot of room for anyone on the street to see into the house, or even notice there is a gate if they were just walking down the street because, the bushes are so far out and the gate is hidden behind. Also, when you look over the gate, it is so dark you cannot even see the grass, or the front door, so a criminal could easily watch, or peek over the house with intentions of robbing or worse. 

Solution:   

They again could widen the gate and make it much more noticeable for those walking by. Also, provide extra lighting, such as a lanterns, string lights, or sensor lights. By trimming the bushes back, it would provide a much more noticeable entrance and be more noticeable to a house being located behind the bushes. 

 

Description:

This is the side view of the front of the house,from across the street. This is the entire width of the house. As seen in the picture, you can kind of see the street light in the far right, but the house is left in darkness. The bushes cover the entire body of the house. except for the roof. The front entrance is barely visible. It is a prime location for a criminal to enter and rob or attack the house without any passerby even noticing. 

Solution:   

A solution could be, cutting down the bushes to a lower level, and lighting up the entire area of the house, so that the windows, and front entrance can be seen. They are still able to keep their bushes and provide privacy, but with a more safer way.






Daylight pictures to come.