The Focal Point That Cannot Be Named : Treading on Eggshells

"There is a small percentage of people who operate in a relatively small percentage of the geography of Ottawa that produces disproportionately the largest amount of our violent crime."

"[The police service has seen] a significant spread [recently, in the areas impacted by shooting events. People are using vehicles to move drugs and guns, and they're encountering one another] in unplanned and rather random locations, and then sparking act of violence, often involving firearms." 

"While police will always play a major role in assessing, and address this and other complex crime problems, we know there must be an expanded role for civil society, community stakeholders, academia and the not-for-profit sector in developing new solutions to this old problem."

"[It will take more than police work to address the] societal failures [that produce violent criminals]."

Ottawa Police Chief Peter Sloly

Abdullahi OSMAN  Canada-wide warrant

It would, of course, be of enormous help to law and order services if members of the communities from which these violent criminals emanate, would give information and any other kind of assistance possible to the police to enable them to a) intervene before the violence occurs, b) identify those who are the potential cause of violent crime. It is frequently people from within the community who are also in greatest danger from the presence of these violent criminals. Cooperation with police is not part of the culture and there is little enthusiasm to be an 'informer' for fear of retribution in two forms a) being shunned by the larger community for betrayal of those among them, and b) vengeance satisfied through violence directed at the informers.

There have been no arrests in Ottawa reflecting four murders in the space of five days. A double homicide where Abdulaziz Abdullah, 34, and Mohamad Abdulla, 27, were shot to death, a third man injured in a daylight shooting. Arrest warrants were processed for two men from Toronto and one from Ottawa, charged with first-degree murder and attempted murder. Earlier, Abdulqadir Yusuf, 22 was shot dead and found in a sedan in a condo complex parking lot. Then police arrived at a strip mall to find a man with gunshot wounds in a parking lot. 27-year-old Warsama Youssouf died in hospital.

 

Ottawa police have issued a warrant for the arrest of 28-year-old Ahmed Siyad of Toronto, known as Baby Dice, Dice or Dicey, in connection to Friday's double homicide in Ottawa. (Photo courtesy: Ottawa Police Service)

 

According to Police Chief Sloly, investigations are incorporating detectives from the homicide, drugs and guns and gangs units while the intelligence unit is collaborating, feeding information to detectives and front-line officers. "We do not have a turf war problem in the City of Ottawa. Wars" represent the old modes of operation, explained Inspector Carl Cartright. An "evolution" has taken place with no geographic concentration of these crimes.

There have been more drive-by shootings, and an increase in the availability of inexpensive firearms on the streets, mostly from outside the city. 77 percent of crime guns seized and traced were from the United States, the rest sourced through Canadian connections. Police have identified violence caused by drug dealers ripping each other off, and by clients attempting to rip off their dealers, explained Inspector Cartright.

 

Mohamed SHIRE Canada-wide warrant

Police "suppression" techniques concentrate on people most likely to commit crimes, those whom the police estimate to number 280, involved in the drug trade, with easy access to firearms. Chief Sloly spoke of arrests to come, and an operational plan with multiple elements, including violence suppression, noting that the highest-risk offenders are often the same people at high risk of becoming victims.

"[This suppression is already happening, and will continue] until we see a flattening of the spike in crime that we've seen impacting the city."

"[A community engagement strategy at the neighbourhood and city level is underway with outreach to community stakeholders] some of whom have already reached out to us."

Ottawa Police Chief Peter Sloly

The estimable chief of Ottawa police is a black man whose profession is geared to upholding law and order. He, like other chiefs of police in North America is dedicated to fighting crime and upholding the law ensuring that justice is done. In all these crimes that have taken place in short order, black men have been involved. Involved in criminal gangs, in guns and drugs, in violent crime, in targeting one another for murder. They commit their crimes in public arenas with no concern over harming innocent people who may be nearby. They cannot be named as representative of the black and Muslim community; to do so is interpreted as racism.

Yet it is largely from among this demographic that much of the crime and violence emanates. Black Lives Matter take grave offence over incidents where white police have been found to be violent with blacks. Police are often equally violent toward white criminals, and statistics indicate that more whites guilty of serious malfeasance are killed at the hands of police than are blacks. The black community has no wish to own its responsibility in a culture that produces these criminals, disproportionate to their numbers in society. 

 

There is something seriously wrong when an activist group, itself involved in racism and violence on occasion, casts blame on white society. And white society reacts with shame and repentance, arousing their accusers to ever greater accusations, occasioning even more conciliatory gestures and acceptance of guilt from the blamed-and-shamed white community. We must all take responsibility for what we do and the consequences therefrom. Past injustices excuse no one from the need to accept personal agency and responsibility, including the black community.

Police are investigating a drive-by shooting on Alta Vista Drive on May 28, 2021, that left Abdulaziz Abdullah, 34, and Mohamad Abdullah, 27, dead and a third brother suffering from undisclosed injuries. (Mathieu Thériault/CBC)