Robert Pickton's victims' families to get $50K each

[Locutus]

An agreement has been reached with the City of Vancouver and the provincial and federal governments to pay $50,000 to each of 13 families who had a relative killed by Robert Pickton, says Jason Gratl, the lawyer representing the children of the victims of the B.C. serial killer.

more

Robert Pickton's victims' families to get $50K each - British Columbia - CBC News

 

[PoliticalNick]

Why are the taxpayers footing the bill for this? We should confiscate his farm and sell it to split among the victims.

 

[grumpydigger]

And the people in the provincial and federal governments and the cops in the RCMP and in the city forces who bungled the investigation are promoted and are not held accountable.

As far as I'm concerned every person involved in this should have their wages and pensions garnishee until every penny that has to be spent is reimbursed

There is no accountability in the police forces. And all the police act does give them a written reprimand and a couple days without pay . The whole thing is a big joke.

 

[Nuggler]

hey, 650K is chump change, given the fact that if some high priced lawyers were hired by said families, and it got dragged out (more) in court - could cost a whole bunch more.

the powers just want it to go away.

I side with Grumpydigger, but have no say in the matter. sorry.

 

[JLM]

Why are the taxpayers footing the bill for this? We should confiscate his farm and sell it to split among the victims.

From what I can gather he's not the sole owner of the farm, if indeed he still has any interest in it, but Yeah, we should get what we can out of the bastard!

An agreement has been reached with the City of Vancouver and the provincial and federal governments to pay $50,000 to each of 13 families who had a relative killed by Robert Pickton, says Jason Gratl, the lawyer representing the children of the victims of the B.C. serial killer.

more

Robert Pickton's victims' families to get $50K each - British Columbia - CBC News

It's a start - more symbolic value than anything else, the system finally admitting they F**ked up!

 

[PoliticalNick]

I think this is a horrible precedent to set. Now every victim of a crime is going to be lining up to sue the various govts and cops if the case isn't solved expeditiously or if a mistake is made.

So what if the cops weren't in a hurry to find a missing crack-wh0re or 3, I wouldn't be in a rush either when there is so many other cases that can be closed. So what if the cops made some mistakes, to err is human and they are after all humans.

This is just a cash-grab by a bunch of people who didn't care enough about these girls to prevent them becoming hookers in the first place. Where were all these concerned and distraught family members when the victims were turning tricks and doing drugs? We should tell them all to suck it up and f*ck off!

 

[JLM]

I think this is a horrible precedent to set. Now every victim of a crime is going to be lining up to sue the various govts and cops if the case isn't solved expeditiously or if a mistake is made.

So what if the cops weren't in a hurry to find a missing crack-wh0re or 3, I wouldn't be in a rush either when there is so many other cases that can be closed. So what if the cops made some mistakes, to err is human and they are after all humans.

This is just a cash-grab by a bunch of people who didn't care enough about these girls to prevent them becoming hookers in the first place. Where were all these concerned and distraught family members when the victims were turning tricks and doing drugs? We should tell them all to suck it up and f*ck off!

What do we have to do to qualify for police protection, Nick? Pass some f**king test devised by you? First it will be crack wh*res, then it will be strippers and panhandlers next and pretty soon jay walkers, where would you draw the line?
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And then I got to thinking a bit further, why stop at denying police protection, deny them medical treatment, dental treatment, ambulance service, variously kinds of councelling, subsidies for child care etc. etc. Ban them from borrowing a book from the library. That would save you a whole pile of money, Nick!

 

[grumpydigger]

That's how this all got started, the cops could care less about certain segments of society and figured they did not deserve protection.

one of the lead investigators for the RCMP was actually caught posting pictures of himself on an pornographic site that specialized in forcible rape and fantasies of degrading women. Interestingly he was actually wearing parts of his RCMP uniform while he was doing it.

All this is is blood money for incompetence

 

[analyticalthink]

I think this is a horrible precedent to set. Now every victim of a crime is going to be lining up to sue the various govts and cops if the case isn't solved expeditiously or if a mistake is made.

So what if the cops weren't in a hurry to find a missing crack-wh0re or 3, I wouldn't be in a rush either when there is so many other cases that can be closed. So what if the cops made some mistakes, to err is human and they are after all humans.

This is just a cash-grab by a bunch of people who didn't care enough about these girls to prevent them becoming hookers in the first place. Where were all these concerned and distraught family members when the victims were turning tricks and doing drugs? We should tell them all to suck it up and f*ck off!

You seem to be quite angry. Anyway, if you were paying any attention at all, you would notice that some of us were actually babies or small kids when our mothers were on the streets or 'turning tricks' so while that was happening we were trying to live lives outside of that like normal kids! Since most of us were kids, there was not much way we could "prevent" them from becoming hookers and addicts in the first place. But since you seem to know all the answers and are so concerned for your 'taxpayer' money that we pay as well, Im sure you have proposed to the world (and not just this basic forum) THE solution that can help compensate the loss of mothers that have been missing for 20 odd years as the children grow up in the system!!!!!! It's almost like we planned to have our mothers heads and legs in freezers right? So we could live on your mighty tax dollar? I think at this point, you might consider doing your own last sentence. Have a nice day.

 

[Twila]

The family HAD to have had some idea what was going on. At least the other brother had to have.

There were so many people who had bits and pieces, saw something untoward or heard something that it would be near impossible that the other family members couldn't have known...

This whole thing is a horrible example of the ills and preconceived notions of our society.

 

[PoliticalNick]

You seem to be quite angry. Anyway, if you were paying any attention at all, you would notice that some of us were actually babies or small kids when our mothers were on the streets or 'turning tricks' so while that was happening we were trying to live lives outside of that like normal kids! Since most of us were kids, there was not much way we could "prevent" them from becoming hookers and addicts in the first place. But since you seem to know all the answers and are so concerned for your 'taxpayer' money that we pay as well, Im sure you have proposed to the world (and not just this basic forum) THE solution that can help compensate the loss of mothers that have been missing for 20 odd years as the children grow up in the system!!!!!! It's almost like we planned to have our mothers heads and legs in freezers right? So we could live on your mighty tax dollar? I think at this point, you might consider doing your own last sentence. Have a nice day.

Life ain't easy baby! Get over it!

If I seem angry it is because the solution proposed by this group suing me and every other taxpayer is to take my money. You may have had a terrible childhood and may not have the best life now, I don't know. What I do know is no amount of money will bring these ladies back from the dead nor will it ease the pain of someone truly in pain over their loss and it most certainly will not change the attitudes or conduct of police or investigators in the future. If you are actually a part of this story and lost your mother to Pickton you have much sympathy from me on that point. Where you lose my respect is holding your hand out asking for cash saying it will resolve your problem or change things in a positive manner. If you want to sue for changes to police protocols or investigative techniques I am behind you 100%. If you want to sue to force all police into training to better deal with victims I will support it. If all you want is money then let me tell you now it will not help you and I will not help you get it.

 

[analyticalthink]

Life ain't easy baby! Get over it!

If I seem angry it is because the solution proposed by this group suing me and every other taxpayer is to take my money. You may have had a terrible childhood and may not have the best life now, I don't know. What I do know is no amount of money will bring these ladies back from the dead nor will it ease the pain of someone truly in pain over their loss and it most certainly will not change the attitudes or conduct of police or investigators in the future. If you are actually a part of this story and lost your mother to Pickton you have much sympathy from me on that point. Where you lose my respect is holding your hand out asking for cash saying it will resolve your problem or change things in a positive manner. If you want to sue for changes to police protocols or investigative techniques I am behind you 100%. If you want to sue to force all police into training to better deal with victims I will support it. If all you want is money then let me tell you now it will not help you and I will not help you get it.

See, I only responded to your second post because of the callous way you referred to the victims involved. "So what...crack wh**es or 3...." "taxpayers money" like all people involved are no longer humans. As I mentioned before, taxpayers money is not only you. I work and pay taxes just like you. My tax money is used for this as well. My tax money is also used for many other social programs that you and your family no doubt have the benefit of. They don't make exceptions for me for anything not that I expect it. However, when there are that many errors in a case and that many people are involved, something had to have been done. Sympathy and Empathy are both nice gestures, but they never helped me answer questions of "where is your mom" or "how come you don't know". The money? It's cool, but it doesn't replace the now 23 years ( for me) without a mom and 4 years ( for my child) without a grandmother. Granted, I dont look for hand outs but it is nice to know something can be done as an attempt in justification. But, my mom is still dead. And as for suing Pickton, well, his property is the property of the government now. Just for your information, I am not asking for your respect- you obviously have already put me and any other living victim in the same category as an object. And just so you know, you are free to have an opinion and I am free to think it is ignorant and based on no real substance- or else you would get your butt into gear and make something happen instead of sit behind the computer screen and rant. Your ranting is still not preventing me from collecting money. I need not request any of your help.

Another solution, don't pay taxes. You have that choice you know. Then things like this will not bother you.

 

[Goober]

Life ain't easy baby! Get over it!

If I seem angry it is because the solution proposed by this group suing me and every other taxpayer is to take my money. You may have had a terrible childhood and may not have the best life now, I don't know. What I do know is no amount of money will bring these ladies back from the dead nor will it ease the pain of someone truly in pain over their loss and it most certainly will not change the attitudes or conduct of police or investigators in the future. If you are actually a part of this story and lost your mother to Pickton you have much sympathy from me on that point. Where you lose my respect is holding your hand out asking for cash saying it will resolve your problem or change things in a positive manner. If you want to sue for changes to police protocols or investigative techniques I am behind you 100%. If you want to sue to force all police into training to better deal with victims I will support it. If all you want is money then let me tell you now it will not help you and I will not help you get it.

Problem is the Police did not treat the missing as people. That has been shown time and again, they were considered the dregs of society. Why waste the time, the money.
And not one Police Officer was reprimanded, not 1 ffn officer.

 

[JLM]

I wouldn't touch that one with a 10' pole, Nick!

 

[Retired_Can_Soldier]

Life ain't easy baby! Get over it!

If I seem angry it is because the solution proposed by this group suing me and every other taxpayer is to take my money. You may have had a terrible childhood and may not have the best life now, I don't know. What I do know is no amount of money will bring these ladies back from the dead nor will it ease the pain of someone truly in pain over their loss and it most certainly will not change the attitudes or conduct of police or investigators in the future. If you are actually a part of this story and lost your mother to Pickton you have much sympathy from me on that point. Where you lose my respect is holding your hand out asking for cash saying it will resolve your problem or change things in a positive manner. If you want to sue for changes to police protocols or investigative techniques I am behind you 100%. If you want to sue to force all police into training to better deal with victims I will support it. If all you want is money then let me tell you now it will not help you and I will not help you get it.

Some drunk driver kills one of your family members you best put your money where your mouth is and join MADD and abstain from any litigation. Life aint easy baby.

I remember going to BC and hearing about a possible serial killer taking out prositutes 10 years before Pickton was caught.

50 G's is an insult.

 

[JLM]

Some drunk driver kills one of your family members you best put your money where your mouth is and join MADD and abstain from any litigation. Life aint easy baby.

I remember going to BC and hearing about a possible serial killer taking out prositutes 10 years before Pickton was caught.

50 G's is an insult.

I don't know what the proper answer is. You just can't equate a life to money. There's more questions than answers. Would the $50G be better spent given to the survivors or would it be better spent to beef up law enforcement to reduce this sort of thing? I can't answer it because it didn't happen to me.

 

[Twila]

Wouldn't any amount of money be an insult though? It's like saying "this is the $ value we believe your loved ones are worth" Also, it might feel like a pay off. "here's some money, now go away and stop reminding us"

I have no idea how I'd feel if it was my loved one, so I can only guess.

Maybe a contingency fund would be better. Children of those killed can have schooling paid for. Families can have the funeral fees and such paid for. Drug program funding increased. A prostitute watch set up of sorts set up operated by caring people and maybe fellow prostitutes?

 

[#juan]

I think this is a horrible precedent to set. Now every victim of a crime is going to be lining up to sue the various govts and cops if the case isn't solved expeditiously or if a mistake is made.

So what if the cops weren't in a hurry to find a missing crack-wh0re or 3, I wouldn't be in a rush either when there is so many other cases that can be closed. So what if the cops made some mistakes, to err is human and they are after all humans.

This is just a cash-grab by a bunch of people who didn't care enough about these girls to prevent them becoming hookers in the first place. Where were all these concerned and distraught family members when the victims were turning tricks and doing drugs? We should tell them all to suck it up and f*ck off!

There is a lot in what you say Nick. The relatives couldn't or didn't provide a safe place for these girls, a lot of whom ended up on Picton's pig farm. I'm sure the girls were warned dozens of times but as all children want to make thir own decisions, some of the decisions were bad ones....and some were deadly.

Not too long ago I drove down to Victoria. Along the road from Nanaimo to Victoria I saw at least a half dozen young girls hitch-hiking. Some were traveling with a friend(another girl), but two or three were hitching alone. Who is to blame? You tell me....:roll:

I don't have any problem with compensating victim's families but we should be consistent. Did we compensate the families of Olsen's victims?

 

[PoliticalNick]

See, I only responded to your second post because of the callous way you referred to the victims involved. "So what...crack wh**es or 3...." "taxpayers money" like all people involved are no longer humans. As I mentioned before, taxpayers money is not only you. I work and pay taxes just like you. My tax money is used for this as well. My tax money is also used for many other social programs that you and your family no doubt have the benefit of. They don't make exceptions for me for anything not that I expect it. However, when there are that many errors in a case and that many people are involved, something had to have been done. Sympathy and Empathy are both nice gestures, but they never helped me answer questions of "where is your mom" or "how come you don't know". The money? It's cool, but it doesn't replace the now 23 years ( for me) without a mom and 4 years ( for my child) without a grandmother. Granted, I dont look for hand outs but it is nice to know something can be done as an attempt in justification. But, my mom is still dead. And as for suing Pickton, well, his property is the property of the government now. Just for your information, I am not asking for your respect- you obviously have already put me and any other living victim in the same category as an object. And just so you know, you are free to have an opinion and I am free to think it is ignorant and based on no real substance- or else you would get your butt into gear and make something happen instead of sit behind the computer screen and rant. Your ranting is still not preventing me from collecting money. I need not request any of your help.

Another solution, don't pay taxes. You have that choice you know. Then things like this will not bother you.

In all those 23 years did you go and look for your mom? Did you know what she was doing? Did your grandparents? Did you comb the streets of Vancouver crying her name? I doubt it.

FYI I do not class you or any other family member as objects. I do not even class crack-wh0res as objects, just people who have made bad decisions and had to live with the consequences of those choices. I am not sympathetic to anyone in this regard. We are all responsible for ourselves in this life and I am sick of the attitude that society should pay people for their own mistakes.

You are right that my words on a forum will not stop you from getting your blood money. I am quite sure you suffered the appropriate amount of pain for your lawyer to collect some money for you. I just hope every dollar of it you spend reminds you of all the things you did not do to find or save your mom. Enjoy!

I would love to not have to pay taxes or at least only pay for the services I use. I am tired of seeing $30-40k of my hard earned money going to the government every year only for them to waste it.

Problem is the Police did not treat the missing as people. That has been shown time and again, they were considered the dregs of society. Why waste the time, the money.
And not one Police Officer was reprimanded, not 1 ffn officer.

The police had better things to do than look for people who had spent much time trying not to be found by friends or family as is normally the case. Same reason they don't look for most runaways. When people use assumed names and live on the streets they normally are not in a hurry to have their whereabouts known. It is quite common for hookers and addicts and runaways to move on to different cities or hide when they think they may be found so why would the police use resources to look for them when those resources could be better used elsewhere. Why reprimand police for trying to use our tax dollars efficiently?

Some drunk driver kills one of your family members you best put your money where your mouth is and join MADD and abstain from any litigation. Life aint easy baby.

I remember going to BC and hearing about a possible serial killer taking out prositutes 10 years before Pickton was caught.

50 G's is an insult.

I have lost someone to a drunk driver and we didn't sue anybody. Why would we? It isn't like the driver would have to pay, any money would come from all who use ICBC and they didn't do it and I already got plenty of money. I made a conscious choice NOT to be a victim and demand money from those not responsible. I didn't join MADD but I do preach safe driving habits to everyone I can.

I don't have any problem with compensating victim's families but we should be consistent. Did we compensate the families of Olsen's victims?

Actually we compensated Olsen's family so he would reveal the location of some bodies. That was even worse than this case.

I am not sure when the general attitude changed to the cash-grab society we have today where everyone seems to think anything bad that happens in their life is someone else's fault and they should be compensated but my opinion is we need to change that philosophy fast

 

[analyticalthink]

I don't know what the proper answer is. You just can't equate a life to money. There's more questions than answers. Would the $50G be better spent given to the survivors or would it be better spent to beef up law enforcement to reduce this sort of thing? I can't answer it because it didn't happen to me.

Im not sure how much beefing up of law enforcement you can do really. I think it's just a matter of humans remembering that ALL people ( homeless, prostitute, addict or whatever other label we use) are humans and not the "whatever's" of society. People judge pretty quickly. We get fired from our job, take away all social systems and our beloved forms of credit and just like that 80+% of the population is in the same spot as the people everyone looks down on. In terms of this situation, like most other crimes or accidents, victims get a settlement of sorts. So the money fits here. Im not sure how they came up with the amount however...