Friday, May 29th

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Editorial - Competent authorities

Local law enforcement agencies obviously are taking Wednesday’s regrettable shooting on Front Street very seriously (see related article). A multidisciplinary team has been formed to conduct the investigation.

It turns out the 32-year-old captured suspect was shot both in the leg and stomach. As his condition is not life-threatening, one can assume detectives are questioning him to try to find out who the escaped accomplice in this apparent thwarted armed robbery was.

Moreover, the injured detainee’s home has been searched already and several items of interest to the case confiscated. There is thus a fair chance the identity of the second culprit may be known soon.

In the meantime, a US $10,000 reward has been posted for information that leads to arresting this fugitive of whom police gave quite a detailed description. Of course, he could have changed his appearance, so people ought not to go by that alone.

In the past some have criticised posting big rewards in the sense that it promotes vigilante justice and assisting in the fight against crime really should not be a matter of making money. That sounds very principled, but experience has shown that it does work and the main goal right now is to catch the man while the trail is still hot.

However, members of the public must not get it into their heads to go looking for the man. The offer clearly regards passing on knowledge, not personally taking any action that easily could put them or others in harm’s way.

There is a reason the fled criminal was qualified as “armed and dangerous.” Actually going after him is best left up to the competent authorities who have been trained for such.