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HomeMy WebLinkAboutClinton News Record, 2014-06-11, Page 44 News Record • Wednesday, June 11, 2014 Canada stands with There are tragedies that bring the entire country together as one. The terrible drama which played out in Moncton, N.B., that began last Wednesday evening, was one of them. Three RCMP officers — one a father of three — gunned down in cold blood, two others wounded. A city under lockdown, families living in fear, told to stay inside their homes, as hundreds of police officers searched for a sus- pect dressed in camou- flage, armed with two high-powered rifles, whom they had identified as Justin Bourque, 24, of Moncton. Witnesses said he specifi- cally ambushed the officers — looking for people in uni- form to kill — while talking to civilians but not firing on them. Huron OPP cruiser equippe We know all too well these horrors can happen any- where — in New York, in London, in Boston, through- out small-town America and now in our backyard. When they do, all of us become one, no matter where we live in Canada. We pray for the families of the officers who were killed, for the speedy recov- ery of those who were wounded, for the safety of everyone in Moncton and for the long healing we know the city will have to endure that has not even started yet. We think of the officers who searched for the gun- man, unable even to acknowledge their own grief and anger over the loss of their comrades, because they still had a job to do. It is a powerful reminder of who our police officers M oncton are, what we expect them to do and the ultimate sacrifice they can be called upon to make, with scarcely a moment of warning. They represent our civi- lization when civilization breaks down. Along with other first responders like firefighters and paramed- ics, they run toward dan- ger, on our behalf, when the rest of us are running away. There will be time, later, to debate the issues that will arise out of this terrible tragedy, debates that have occurred so often in the past — including reports the shooter was fascinated by guns, hated police and was angry about anti -gun laws. But for now, all of Canada stands with the people of Moncton. QMI Agency Whitney South for the News Record Const. Jamie Stanley of Huron County OPP stands beside a fully marked police cruiser equipped with an Automatic Licence Plate Recognition (A.L.P.R) system. The A.L.P.R system is a sophisticated licence plate scanning tool that uses Infra -Red illumination which captures an image of both the front and back of a vehicle. The system is capable of scanning thousands of plates per hour, checking them in real time against the Ministry of Transportation (MTO) database. The system can identify stolen plates, expired plates, plates that are associated to suspended and unlicenced drivers, wanted persons and those connected to Amber alerts can be quickly identified. In the limited time the cruiser has operated in Huron County officers have identified and charged numerous drivers with a variety of offences. Driving with an expired validation sticker, expired licence or a suspended driver's licence are just some of the offences that officers have been able to identify with the A.L.P.R system. The A.L.P.R cruiser is one of 27 that were rolled out across the Province in early 2014. This particular cruiser is being shared with our neighbouring counties, however when it is in Huron County it will be used on a 24/7 basis.