Vancouver police say one New Westminster resident is among the first 60 that police are recommending charges for related to the June 15 Stanley Cup riot.
Vancouver Police Department Chief Const. Jim Chu announced Monday morning that after combing through thousands of hours of riot footage captured on security cameras and cell phones, police were prepared to lay 163 charges against 50 men and 10 women, most from the Lower Mainland.
The New Westminster resident has not been named, and police are not saying what charges they are recommending, though police are requesting that Crown counsel approve, at minimum, one count of participating in a riot for all 60.
Others in the first 60 will also be facing charges of break-and-enter and mischief if the Crown follows the Integrated Riot Investigation Team recommendations.
Crown counsel must now approve the charges in court before the suspects face an arraignment hearing in which they can plead guilty or not guilty.
"On the night of June 15, thousands of people committed criminal acts, destroying property, stealing property and assaulting those who got in their way. It became, by many measures, the largest crime spree in the history of B.C. The statistics are staggering and continue to grow," Chu said in a press conference.
"We decided then that we owed it to the victims of this crime and the outraged people of our community to do the right thing. That meant we were making a commitment to pursue the rioters, and to use new approaches to identify them and to bring before the courts the full extent of the crimes committed by each rioter to ensure the most serious sentences," he added in response to critics who said Vancouver police should have been recommending charges much sooner.
Chu said Crown prosecutors will now have much stronger cases in court than they would have had if police acted too soon.
"This is just the beginning as we expect to announce more arrests in the weeks and months ahead. Every day, we receive more tips, and our new forensic video lab, funded by the province, produces more evidence," Chu said.
Surrey has the highest number of residents police are recommending charges for, with 21. Twelve are from Vancouver, and nine are from Burnaby. Others police plan to charge come from the Lower Mainland, Vancouver Island and Washington state.
The riot did still-untold millions of dollars in damage to stores, vehicles and public property.
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