A Criminal to Remember (A Monty Haaviko Thriller) by Michael Van Rooy Page A

description. So why give it away?
    I filed the question away. “So there is going to be a police council, suggested by the mayor and elected by the populace.”
    “Right. To enhance the accountability of the police force and to prevent crime.”
    She said it straight-faced and I checked Dean but he wasn’t smiling either.
    “Okay.”
    “The mayor is having special elections to choose six people for the board. five regular members and one chief commissioner. The regular commissioners were supposed to represent Districts 1, 2, 3, the East District and District 6. However, that has …”
    I stared at her. “You made that up.”
    Dean answered, sounding puzzled. “No. You’re in District 3 but the chief can be from anywhere.”
    I interrupted. “The City of Winnipeg Police Department is divided into districts numbered 1 to 3 consecutively. Then an East district. And a District 6. Is that right?”
    They both answered, “Sure.”
    I ordered another Danish and more coffee and Dean gave me a thumbnail sketch of the history of the force. “Originally there were thirteen separate forces in the city as it expanded. They all started being incorporated in 1874. In 1972 they began to be amalgamated into one force, and this was finished in 1974. Right now there are 1,682 members of the police force with a chief, a deputy, superintendents, inspectors, staff sergeants, sergeants, patrol/detective sergeants, constables and a variety of non-sworn members.”
    “How many wear uniforms or carry guns? Or both.”
    Brenda answered, “1,326. 1,142 men and 184 women. 1,109 Caucasian, 142 Aboriginal, 24 Black, 5 Filipino, 26 Asian and 20 others. To cover a city of 653,000 with a racial demographic of mostly white with 64,000 being aboriginal, 14,000 Black, 37,000 Filipino, and 38,000 assorted Asians with a post-tax median income of around $23,000, with women generally bringing in around $3,000 less.”
    Dean listed things off on his fingers. “There’s a bicycle unit, a SWAT unit, a canine unit, a horse-mounted unit, the whole schmear—even a river patrol unit. No aerial unit though. That’s been a bone of contention in the past that can be engaged as needed by any politician to gain support by the police. It’s a pretty extensive force.”
    Brenda smiled sweetly. “We’re going to put together a package about your district—individuals, incomes, race, sex, employment—and then the city as a whole. Then we’ll talk some more and get this whole thing started. Districts vote for individual commission members but the chief gets voted on by everyone and Dean’s going to put your name in today. All you have to do is sign.”
    I swallowed and realized this was one of those key weird moments in life where things would change. I also realized I had no idea what to do. That’s why I said, “Fine.”
    Dean produced the required legal forms, all filled in, and I signed where necessary. Then they told me that they’d set up a date to meet my benefactor, paid for coffee and everything else and vanished softly away.
    I made sure they tipped well. A good Danish is hard to find, after all.

#14
    T wo days later I went to a tiny jewellery store off a side street in Saint Boniface. It was an old-fashioned store with a grill just outside the door to give your name and business and then a holding space with another door to open before you could get into the business proper. Inside there were long counters holding rainbows of gems and dozens of ounces of gold and platinum, fashioned into rings, necklaces, brooches, bracelets, earrings and some things I didn’t recognize.
    There was good stuff on display—worth a half million easy—and the security was first rate. Steel bars on the windows to back up heavy plastic windows which were visibly alarmed for vibration and breakage. Radar alarms in the room itself, one in the front of the store and one in the rear, both backed up with cameras in slick Plexiglas domes. There were separate alarms on