Use of the word “suspect” is suspect

Re. “Belgravia area hit by series of robberies,” June 8 You can’t imagine how surprised I was that this story actually made use of the words “thieves,” “culprit” and “career criminal” in referring to various of the perpetrators.

Your normal practice, and that of much of the media, is to use the seemingly politically correct term “suspect” when referring to anyone breaking the law.

Two of my favourite recent examples were a Crime Stoppers segment in which the voice-over referred to “suspects,” who were masked in the dramatization, breaking into a business, and a car thief filmed in the act by the owner as he continued to try to start the vehicle, also deemed to be a “suspect.”

Surely, use of the term “suspect” implies some level of uncertainty, so why use it to describe those actually involved in a criminal activity? The English language is rich, with many great words that accurately and colourfully describe perpetrators of a crime — words like ‘burglar,” “robber,” “assailant,” “thug,” “miscreant,” et cetera — so why not use them?

Marvin Schneider, Edmonton