This morning members of the London Police Service Traffic Management Unit conducted an intersection traffic blitz pertaining to motorists disobeying red lights and amber lights.

Some of the officers were on foot blending in as pedestrians as they made the observations. They then radioed ahead to an assisting marked police vehicle to stop the offending driver. During this brief initiative at three intersections, 4 red light tickets, 8 amber lights, 1 cell phone and 1 turn not in safety tickets were issued. Most amber light tickets were issued to motorists making left turns who failed to remain stopped in the lane when the amber light came on and proceeded into and through the turn.

These types of initiatives will continue.

Sgt Tom O’Brien

[emphasis to media release added by me]

It’s nice to see London Police conducting the kind of previously-unannounced safety blitz that I’ve been asking for, but the media release is a bit short on important details. The number of charges laid would have more relevance if we knew how long the “brief initiative” lasted for. I’ll try to find out…

Appended 2010/03/11 @ 04:30 p.m:

From: Gregory Fowler Sent: Thursday, March 11, 2010 2:56 PM To: Thomas O’Brien Cc: Murray Faulkner Subject: Re: Traffic Blitz Sgt. O’Brien, “It’s nice to see London Police conducting the kind of previously-unannounced safety blitz that I’ve been asking for, but the media release is a bit short on important details. The number of charges laid would have more relevance if we knew how long the “brief initiative” lasted for.” [as published on FMBS] Can you tell me how long the sting lasted for, and which intersection(s) were involved? Respectfully, Greg Fowler

From: Thomas O’Brien To: Gregory Fowler Sent: Thu, March 11, 2010 3:01:57 PM Subject: RE: Traffic Blitz Mr. Fowler, The intersections were Oxford and Wonderland, Oxford and Commissioners and Gainsborough and Aldersbrook. The amount of time won’t be released. Thomas J. O’Brien, Sergeant Traffic Management Unit London Police Service ph#(519)661-4799 fax#(519)661-2450

It’s interesting to note where the sting operations took place, but I don’t understand the refusal to say what period of time was involved.

On Wednesday March 10 2010 at 2:13 am a K9 officer observed a stolen vehicle pull into a parking lot on Adelaide Street near Cheapside Street. The male driver exited and fled on foot.

K9 tracked to a rear yard on Wallace Street where the suspect was found hiding. The female passenger was arrested and a small quantity of cocaine and oxycocet was found on her person.

Jean Lafontaine 44 years of London is charged with disqualified operation of a motor vehicle, possession of stolen property under $5,000.

Bonnie Shute is charged with unlawful possession of cocaine, unlawful possession of oxycocet and breach of probation.

The vehicle recovered was reported stolen on February 28 2010 from a parking lot on Sandringham Crescent.

Shortly before the recovery of the stolen vehicle on March 10th, Police arrested John Walker, 50 years of London at a Baseline Road residence, on a warrant in relation to the theft of the vehicle.

On March 9th, 2010 the London Police Cyber Crime Unit executed three search warrants for child pornography offences at three separate London residences as part of a province wide series of raids. Three persons have been arrested and charged as follows:

• William Ronald England, 25 years, of Proudfoot Lane in London has been charged with 2 counts of possession of child pornography, one count of accessing child pornography, one count of making available child pornography, 4 counts of possession of a prohibited weapon (knives) and one count of possession of break and enter tools.
• Jeff Joseph, 25 years, of Berkshire Drive in London has been charged with 2 counts of possession of child pornography, one count of making available child pornography, one count of accessing child pornography and one count of fraudulently obtaining a computer service.
• A young offender male from London has also been charged with one count of possession of child pornography and one count of accessing child pornography.

This month, the London Police Fraud Unit has received complaints in regards internet phishing, specifically called “brand spoofing”. Phishing is the criminally fraudulent process of attempting to acquire sensitive information such as usernames, passwords and credit card details by masquerading as a trustworthy entity in an electronic communication. The form is usually sent within an email message and web pages that are replicas of existing, legitimate sites of financial institutions.

If you have received a suspicious email from what seems to be a reputable web site from financial institutions, verify if you have an account with them by contacting or speaking to a representative. Do not enter any personal information or account information on that website or link unless you are sure that it is secure.

Also when dealing with Rental agents for dwellings; do not give CASH or cheques made out to the agent when only filling out a rental application. Monies should only be given when finalizing and signing a lease. Always get copies of any rental applications or leases where signatures are involved.

I support initiatives like http://www.internetforeveryone.org/principles which strive to make the Internet accessible to everyone. It’s a great social leveler, providing opportunities for education and networking that people of my parents generation and before never could have dreamed of. On the local level, look what somebody like me can accomplish simply with a laptop and a webcam! City Hall has never been so transparent, and there’s no turning back!

Other concerns aside, I would then naturally support Nancy’s proposal for municipal elections Internet voting in London. But I can’t ignore those concerns. And thinking about the issue even in a cursory manner leads me to believe that it could well be more complex than I currently imagine.

It needs a go-slower approach than what Nancy appears to be suggesting (in an election year). Why did she wait until now to propose it?

The Strengthening Neighbourhoods Initiative has identified voter turnout as part of the need to increase political engagement. See page 8 in Compendium.pdf. I’m on the group that will be monitoring Council’s adoption of our proposals and that will be trying to devise strategies for implementing them and you can be sure that I won’t let engagement get sidetracked. That’s the process in which online voting should be investigated I think.

A couple of considerations that come immediately to mind.

Who would it benefit? Advantaged citizens traditionally have better turnout than the disadvantaged demographic, for lots of reasons. Internet voting might not improve their turnout significantly, but it would offer them a convenience. At the other end of the social spectrum there’s lots of room for more turnout. Internet voting could help to achieve that, but only if problems like access to computers and broadband and motivation are first addressed. There’s a huge amount of apathy within this group.

Is London’s IT department capable of rolling this out and managing it? I can tell you that they currently have significant problems simply with their City Hall WiFi. Would they want to code it in-house? How long would that take? OTOH, tendering for an outside firm would also take time. And how much would it cost?

What security concerns have to be addressed other than only being able to vote once, password encryption strength, ensuring that evoters haven’t also cast physical ballots, etc?

What about something like proxy voting? If I decide to run in Ward 1 again and understanding that turnout among my natural constituency is low, what would there be to stop me from asking supporters for their permission to do the work of voting for them? Provided that they were willing to disclose their username/password to me, I could “pull” the vote much more effectively than it’s traditionally been done, and with much more assurance that their votes actually went to me.

Should that be allowed? If so, might it open the door to paying people for their proxies? If not, how would it be prevented?

Fascinating stuff!

What do you think about Internet voting? How about snail-mail voting and tele-voting?

Approximately 100 more volunteers are needed for the 2010 Special Olympics Canada Summer Games that will take place this summer July 11 – 17. More than 1,400 Special Olympics athletes, coaches, family members and friends will attend the Games and volunteers are needed to fulfill a variety of roles and at various locations across the city.

The two-part registration process can be initiated online at www.london2010.ca/volunteer.

Catch the Spirit at volunteer today.

The London Police Service want to advise the public that we are currently experiencing a problem with our general phone system. Members of the public are advised that we are not able to receive calls to our general public phone line at 661-5670 and other internal phone numbers. The 911 lines are operational and are available for EMERGENCY calls. The public is advised to refrain from calling 911 unless they are experiencing an emergency as we fix the problem with our general lines. We will provide updates as we become aware. Thank you

On Monday March 8 2010 at 11:24 pm Police were called to Commissioners Road near Frontenac Road for a male lying on the roadway and a vehicle observed travelling eastbound on Commissioners Road, not remaining at the scene. A 30 year old male was taken to hospital and is currently in critical condition.

The investigation is continuing. Police are asking for the public’s assistance. Anyone with any information regarding this incident is asked to contact Police at 519-661-5670 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS. You can also provide your tips online at www.londoncrimestoppers.com.

Appended 2010/03/11 @ 02:30 p.m:

Through further police investigation into the male found lying on the roadway on Commissioners Road near Frontenac on March 8 2010, on March 10th police arrested the 31yr old driver of the motor vehicle involved. It was determined that as the driver of a GMC Safari van drove eastbound on Commissioners Rd through the intersection of Frontenac Road, the 30 year old male passenger (victim) opened the passenger side door and exited the moving vehicle. The driver failed to remain at the scene or return and stop to render assistance to the victim. The 30 year old male is no longer in hospital.

Bradley William Barnes, 31 years of London is charged with two counts of failing to comply with a recognizance, disqualified driving and fail to remain at the scene of an accident. Barnes is also charged with numerous traffic offences. Alcohol played a role in this incident.