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Ontario border guards walk off job after scare
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| niveole |
Well, well, well.
I have nothing to add!
just read it and forget it, otherwise you wont be able to fall asleep tonight. it is scary! no kidding!
| quote: | Customs officers in Ontario walked off the job Wednesday, saying they were not equipped to deal with an "armed and dangerous" fugitive believed to be heading for the border.
The walkout caused huge backlogs at the Niagara Falls, Ont., border crossing after customs agents began exercising their right to refuse to work if they feel their lives are threatened.
Within hours, all of the full-time customs agents and most of the students working at the Fort Erie crossing had left their posts.
By mid-evening Wednesday, all full-time agents at the Rainbow Bridge in Niagara Falls, the Peace Bridge in Fort Erie and the bridge in Queenston, Ont., had walked off the job.
A Canadian Border Service Agency spokeswoman for the area confirmed the walkout and said travellers should avoid those crossings if possible until the dispute is resolved.
The spokeswoman told CTV.ca that she couldn't confirm how long the walkout might last, but that border delays Thursday were "minimal."
Ron Moran, national president of the Customs and Excise Union that represents the agents, told The Globe and Mail that guards in Fort Erie were issued a photo of a criminal who escaped from custody in Winchester, Ky., and told to let him through.
The idea, as he understood it, was to allow the man to walk into the waiting arms of the police.
However, a Niagara Regional Police official said he had no knowledge of such instructions, but confirmed that cellphone tracking had suggested the man might be heading for the Peace Bridge in Fort Erie and was thought to be driving a van and in the company of a woman.
"The person is to be considered armed and dangerous," Inspector Bob Ciupa of the Niagara Regional Police told The Globe last night.
Agents began walking off the job Wednesday afternoon when armed police were deployed at the border in Ontario. Witnesses said shotgun-wielding officers were stationed at the Niagara Falls crossing and tactical officers appeared at the Fort Erie crossing.
At the Fort Erie crossing Wednesday night, managers kept two booths operating, but that was not enough to handle the line of vehicles that stretched the length of the Peace Bridge and into the United States. The situation was less chaotic at the other two crossings.
This is the fourth such border closing over the issue of unarmed guards.
The union said yesterday's incident shows yet again why customs agents need firearms to do their jobs properly.
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| Nikitha |
That is really effed up...
i can understand the customs officers point of view i suppose.. but the fact that there was a dangerous situation at hand should have called for a better tactic then just walking away...
maybe this incident will spark some issuing of weapons for boarder customs officers.. maybe not guns.. but at least something.. even maybe those new non-fatal weapons or like pepper-spray guns
Nikitha |
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| skillton |
Don't they at least have armed guards at the borders?
If not, the're ing retarded.
I'd give them guns and train them how to use them properly. |
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| DJ Celica |
| quote: | Originally posted by niveole
comments? |
LOL in a way its funny, but in a way its not so funny :nervous:
if i didnt have a weapon at my booth, id walk off the job too if i knew that was comin! |
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| skillton |
It's not like they were completely defenseless
| quote: | Originally posted by DJ Celica
LOL in a way its funny, but in a way its not so funny :nervous:
if i didnt have a weapon at my booth, id walk off the job too if i knew that was comin! |
Agents began walking off the job Wednesday afternoon when armed police were deployed at the border in Ontario. Witnesses said shotgun-wielding officers were stationed at the Niagara Falls crossing and tactical officers appeared at the Fort Erie crossing. |
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| starsearcher |
| That's AWESOME!!! I love our peaceful country :stongue: |
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| EvilTree |
| I wonder just what kind of training does customs guys get. (And wtf are the students doing for them?) |
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| starsearcher |
| As I've already said many times before from my personal experiences of corssing the border - our customs is a joke (unless you get a really bitchty butchy chick who's out there to prove something who will confiscate your fruits :p)...It's a bit better at the airports though :) |
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| AdReNaLiNa |
just crossed at Fort Erie today.. it looks like everything is back to normal, no lineup going to the US but a bit backed up on the Peace Bridge coming home..
got my trunk checked both ways though.. they must've thought i was the fugitive :disbelief |
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| tatgirl |
| I just love how the newsgroups got on the air and told the whole world WHY they walked off the job, specifically naming a fear of this wanted fugitive heading for the border. Any hopes of catching him went out the window right there, since they decided to practically give him a heads up to their investigation of him. |
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| psychosomatica |
Okay.. say we gave our customs officers guns... Does it change anything? Didnt think so.
edit: I think the gist of my post is that there are job hazards in every job. It's a part of getting paid. |
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| niveole |
| quote: | Originally posted by DJ Celica
LOL in a way its funny, but in a way its not so funny :nervous:
if i didnt have a weapon at my booth, id walk off the job too if i knew that was comin! |
exactly!
it's not funny at all and I feel insecure, cause I dont have a weapon! |
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