A criminal justice expert is critical of the Vancouver Police Department’s decision not to notify the public about an armed robbery that left one person with “life-altering” injuries and six employees tied up at a Yaletown nightclub in April.
The VPD broke its silence on the holdup this week, more than three months after two suspects reportedly entered the club after hours, threatened employees with a gun, knife and forcibly confined the staff, stealing $25,000 in cash.
Robert Gordon, the former director of Simon Fraser University’s school of criminology, thinks Vancouver Police “used the wrong level of discretion” in not informing the public earlier.
“Investigators usually withhold information because they don’t want to alert suspects or scare off potential witnesses, but you’ve got individuals going into a nightclub, holding people up at knife- and gunpoint and scaring the living daylights out of them.”
Gordon says “such a serious event” warranted public know-about.
Vancouver Police spokesperson Const. Tania Visintin confirmed Friday the robbery was kept out of the public eye in an effort to preserve its continuing investigation.
“There was no public safety risk. If there was, we would have gone out with a warning,” Visintin said in an email. “We are now looking to speak with the person in the release as we believe he has information to advance the investigation.”
Police informed the public about the robbery Friday in a bid to identify a man they say might have information that could help their case in recommending charges to Crown counsel.
“During the takeover-style robbery, six victims had their hands zap-strapped and were forcibly confined. One victim was seriously assaulted and suffered a life-altering injury,” police issued in the news release.
While Vancouver Police refused to identify the club, saying it wasn’t relevant to the case, the short video clip it included in the bulletin appears to show the person of interest outside Bar None nightclub on Hamilton Street.
Investigators currently have a number of suspects identified but are looking for more evidence, Visintin said.
Gordon said “Police requests for help from the public for information usually come quickly after such an event, not several months later.”
When an armed robber threatened staff and customers dining at an unidentified brunch spot in late November, Vancouver Police informed the public the next day.
Two days later, investigators revealed the location of the robbery, Café du Soleil, and made a public appeal for dashcam footage to catch the suspects flee the scene near Commercial Drive and 1st Avenue.
Vancouver Police also informed the public about a March robbery that saw two suspects injured staff with use bear spray at a boutique downtown within a week’s time.
“Tips from the public have helped solve a number of violent assaults this year in Vancouver, and we’re again asking the public to assist,” it said in a news release.
Gordon says since months have passed since the Yaletown robbery, Vancouver Police’s appeal for information might fall short of compiling more evidence into the crime.
“By this time, memories of people of witnesses who were at the nightclub that night in April would simply not be very helpful to the investigation.”
“There must be something to the backstory of this violent robbery that police do not want released,” Gordon added.
Vancouver Police investigators on the case can be reached at 604-717-2541.
— With files from Tiffany Crawford
>>> To comment on this article, write a letter to the editor: [email protected]
