Canadian Club

I'm buried at work at the moment, but I did want to pass along this very interesting report from today's Globe and Mail:

Blaine, Wash. - American authorities closed the border crossing to British Columbia on Tuesday after an exchange of gunfire on the U.S. side between border guards, police and two murder suspects from California who were eventually apprehended.

The two men were pursued by American police in a high-speed chase along Interstate 5 in Washington state before the men ran the U.S. border crossing in an attempt to get into Canada.

"They are very dangerous suspects," said Bill Elfo, sheriff of Whatcom County.

An unspecified number of Canadian border agents, who are unarmed, left their posts during the incident because they were concerned about their safety. Managers took over and border security was not compromised, said Paula Shore, a spokeswoman for the Canada Border Services Agency.

Ms. Shore refused to say Tuesday night how many Canadian border agents left their posts because of the perceived danger. She said less than four of the more than 20 British Columbia border crossings were involved.

"A few officers exercised their right to refuse to work because of what they perceived as imminent danger," Ms. Shore said in a telephone interview. Under the labour code, "any worker has the right to refuse to work if they feel they are in imminent danger."

On Wedneday, Vic Toews, the Conservative MP who served as justice critic in Opposition, said the party will stand behind its promise to arm the border guards.
"It's simply a practical matter of how soon these officers can be trained and the firearms issued to them," he said.

"That's our commitment, and I trust our minister will do exactly that."

Border service managers took over and "as far as the travelling public is concerned, they would notice no difference," she said. "We still have highly trained people on the front lines doing their job."

The Canadian Department of Human Resources "came and assessed the situation for us," she said, and staffing had returned to normal by late Tuesday night.

The chase, which reached speeds of 160 kilometres an hour, began after Whatcom County sheriff deputies were told that the two suspects had been seen in Custer, Wash., about 10 kilometres south of the border on I-5.

A deputy sheriff tried to make contact with them but they fled.

The men ran the U.S. customs station at the Peace Arch crossing, but police continued their pursuit.

Their vehicle veered across Peace Arch Park and the men were driving north in the southbound lane of I-5. They were eventually stopped by a sheriff deputy who rammed their car with his vehicle.

When the murder suspects tried to flee, shots were exchanged between them and U.S. law enforcement authorities.

One of the men was shot and taken to hospital for treatment. The other was in federal custody.

"Apparently there was a collision involved and the suspects exited the vehicle," said Trooper Bob Wilson of the Washington State Patrol. "I don't know who shot first."

The extent of the wounded man's injuries was not known. No law enforcement officers were injured, said Sheriff Elfo.

When the car came across the U.S. side of the border, Sheriff Elfo said two uniformed Homeland Security officers were almost struck by the vehicle.
When it did come to a stop, it was about a metre from the line designating the Canadian border, he said.

"I'm very proud of all our people involved," said Sheriff Elfo. "It's a highly dangerous business trying to capture suspects such as these."

Sheriff's deputies pursued the two men based on an alert put out by police in Richmond, Calif.

A spike belt was laid across the I-5 between Custer and the border, but it didn't stop the suspects' car, Sheriff Elfo said.

Lieutenant Mark Gagan of the Richmond, Calif., police department said because both men were from different countries, Pakistan and Mexico, there were concerns they would leave the United States.

Lt. Gagan said Ishtiaq Hussain, 43, and 22-year-old Jose Antonio Barajas were arrested after the shootout on the U.S. side of the border.

"Right now we're working on extraditing both men back to the San Francisco Bay area to face the murder charges," he said.

Ashok Malhotra was shot to death in a Richmond, Calif., apartment on Saturday

I have a couple of quick points to make about this story.

1) You can search high, you can search low, and you would be hard-pressed to find a more depressing hell-hole than Richmond, California.

2) The differences in law-enforcement culture could not be clearer here. The Americans were doing everything they could to stop the bad guys. The Canadian public servants invoked their right under Canadian law to absent themselves from the situation. Don't get me wrong: these were our bad guys, in our country and it was our duty to stop them. But does anyone doubt that had the situation been reversed our guys would have offered to help? (In case anyone does, please see recent Canadian stories about how our guys offer to help often and are often so-sought by Canadian authorties because our guys are armed and have better assets to bring to bear on the job at hand).

3) What do you suppose a middle-aged Muslim man and a young Hispanic man were doing together?

4) If you want a laugh, check out the Globe and Mail's forum on this story. Here are some representational excerpts from the comments to whet your appetite:

"Bupinder Gill from surrey, Canada writes: This is the danger of becoming integrated with America we not only lose our sovereinty but our values.They solve everything by the gun do we?"

"ernst krause from London, Canada writes: A gun is rarely a defensive tool.If we arm our boarder officers it would be for an offensive purpose.A much better method of protection for the individual is to provide the front lines with soft body armour."

You just can't make stuff this good up.