Police call in the overkill squad on Wonderland candy bandits
In the annals of youthful mischief, this caper was one that might have become the stuff of schoolyard legend, its perpetrators’ names whispered with reverence in the playground for generations.
The type of heist you imagine must have been plotted during recesses and lunch periods over the course of years — first as a pipe dream, then gradually turning into a master plan: Breaking into a theme park, Canada’s Wonderland, under cover of night, prowling around among the soaring, silent roller-coasters and then making the big score by taking off with candy by the bagful.
One part Italian Job, one part Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, one part Scooby-Doo.
And they would have gotten away with it, too, if it weren’t for the meddling York Regional Police department, who brought a helicopter, thermal imaging cameras, a canine unit and a bunch of officers to the task of foiling these teenage bandits. The video of the incident, released by the police department as a warning to other sweet-toothed would-be trespassers, looks like something from a war zone. There’s the blackand-white negative landscape from the night-vision camera from on high, its frame marked with distance and orientation notations now familiar from video games and cable-news war reporting. There are the blobs of white from the perps, huddling under some trees beside a roller-coaster. There’s the thrum of the helicopter blade as a soundtrack to the calm narration of an officer describing the scene to colleagues on the ground.
Decades of cable news coverage have primed us to expect such images to be followed by explosions, or gunfire, or something dramatic. But the candy thieves lie down. “We got them, they’re being co-operative,” an officer’s voice says.
The press release accompanying the footage tells the story: “On Thursday, April 8, 2017, shortly after 10:30 p.m., police were called by Canada’s Wonderland security who had spotted three people within the closed park. The males were seen dressed in dark clothing with their faces covered, entering one of the stores on the property and stealing candy. The males left the store and disappeared into the park,” it reads.
The three young bandits quickly proved no match for the overwhelming resources the police department devoted to tracking them down, however, and they quickly surrendered. “The males were discovered to be youths, two of them were 16 years old and the third was 15 years old, all from the City of Vaughan. The youths were co-operative with police and were remorseful for their actions. They were each released to the custody of their parents and entered into the Community Referral Program, under the Youth Criminal Justice Act.”
The consequences — a scolding and likely a chance to avoid punishment or a record if they stay out of trouble — seem proportional to the crime, in this case. What may seem grossly disproportionate is the level of manpower and the technological resources brought to bear on this case by the police force. Kids with their hand in the candy jar don’t immediately suggest to most of us calling in an air war and a canine team.
On one hand, it’s unclear that the police knew they were dealing with teens snatching sweets when they first got the call — perhaps blackclad intruders at Canada’s Wonderland could be terrorist saboteurs or otherwise maliciously dangerous criminals targeting a major landmark just before it opens for the season. On the other hand, the cops released the video showing off their use of their tools and tech to apprehend these kids.
You might chalk it up to a laughable case of mistaken overkill, caused by an initial lack of information. Still, after they made the collar, York Regional Police are bragging to the world about it.
Periodically over the past couple of decades, Toronto police have asked to buy a helicopter and been told by their political masters that doing so is too expensive — the usefulness of it as a crime-fighting tool doesn’t justify the cost. York Region, who sometimes lends their chopper to Toronto’s cops, have long bragged about it as a “state-of-the-art” asset to the force, as they did in their 2014-2016 business plan.
Sadly, the chopper and the thermal-imaging night cameras and the canine units and the expert tracking skills haven’t so far proved useful in nabbing the shooter who killed a man outside a banquet hall in Vaughan on March 31. Or the second armed-and-dangerous suspect (one is in custody) in the triple shooting outside a nightclub in Vaughan April 3. Or the two suspects in the double shooting that killed a woman in Vaughan in mid-March. It seems some cases are harder to crack than a kid in a candy store pointed out by private security in an acres-wide, deserted, fenced-in theme park.
But they caught the culprits in the Great Wonderland Candy Caper, so perhaps locals can rest easier knowing the fudge and funnel cakes on the GTA’s big midway are so well protected.
Even the kids involved might come to enjoy it — after they’ve recovered from the scare of being tracked by dogs and helicopters and arrested. This is the stuff of schoolyard legend, after all. Imagine the awe on their grandkids’ faces when they tell the tale over Thanksgiving dinner. And then show them the police video to prove it. Edward Keenan writes on city issues ekeenan@thestar.ca. Follow: @thekeenanwire