Promoting cold cases only good enough for the SPVM’s own

It’s curious. For years now the Montreal police / #SPVM have been very diligent to mark the anniversary dates of their fallen comrades. Here is a recent post marking the 24th anniversary of the murder of Detective Agent Odette Pinard posted both on Facebook and Twitter, the second consecutive year by my count that the police have done so:

The SPVM remembers Agent Odette Pinard, who died in service on November 27, 1995.

At approximately 4:00 pm, Agent Pinard was alone at Station 1A while writing an event report. A few minutes later, a passer-by discovers her unconscious at her desk, shot in the face with a firearm. She died at the Sacré-Coeur Hospital Center. Aged 30, Odette Pinard had been with the Service for almost ten years. She left behind her husband, himself a policeman in Montreal, and her two children. This homicide remains unresolved.

Agent Odette’s murder is truly a tragic loss. I fully support the Montreal police publicizing these cases. In any unsolved murder, investigators must do everything in their power to resolve cold cases, they bring so much pain and suffering to family and loved ones.

I only wish they would do the same for all victims in their cold case portfolio. In January of this year the #SPVM created its first cold case unit consisting of one lieutenant-detective and six investigators to address the city’s approximately 800 unsolved homicides and disappearances .

Almost a year later the Montreal police still have only four cases posted on their website. How do you solve a cold case if no one even remembers any longer who the victims were?

I have often heard it explained this way. Police like to work undercover, not letting the public know which cases they are working on. You wouldn’t want to show your hand and jeopardize everything. Wouldn’t want to risk people who have gotten away with murder for decades – those guys who were just on the brink of coming clean – suddenly being tipped off and clamming up.

This is horse shit, and completely contradicts their current actions. So it’s okay to ask for the public’s help for one of their own, but not for the rest of us? The police deserve a better level of justice than ordinary citizens?

Enough of this nonsense. If you can make social media posts of Sargent-Detective-this and Constable-that then you can also do it for Katherine Hawkes, Lison Blais, Tammy Leakey, Francine DaSylva, Valerie Dalphe, Diane Thibault, Theresa Pearson and the 792 others. Give everyone the same shot at a resolution.