Ottawa Police arrest Ardeth Wood killer?

[Gonzo]

The man accused of killing university student Ardeth Wood in Ottawa 2 years ago was arrested in North Bay. A North Bay officer noticed the man who has been held in custody since May on charges of sexual assault looked like the drawing of the Ardeth Wood suspect. Ottawa police had questioned him in 2003 on numerous sex charges and let him go. He then committed more offences since then. Why all of a sudden do they arrest him now? Why not two years ago? Perhaps these other girls wouldn't have been assaulted if the police did their job back then. The Ottawa police are incredibly incompetent. Now another teen girl has been killed and the police have no clue what to do. We have the highest unsolved crime % in the country. I believe Ottawa’s chief of police is the cop who screwed up the Bernardo/Holmolka case. Aren’t we lucky here?

 

[GL Schmitt]

There is such a thing as an incompetent cop, and this just might be such a case. On the other hand, it may not.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing, and cops are human, too. (More or less.)

The CTV story here said that Ottawa police visiting North Bay made the connection.

. . . "They happened to be in the detective office in the North Bay police building, talking with other detectives about another case when they overheard a conversation going and it clicked with them," . . .

It also describes how the suspect [Chris Myers] was picked up with a hundred other suspects, but had to be released because there was not enough evidence to hold him at that time.

Over the intervening period of time, information was developed which changed that situation, and he is now the prime suspect.

It happens quite frequently that a suspect will be arrested, and since he cannot be held indefinitely, and evidentiary proof is not immediately forthcoming, the suspect must be released. Later, when evidence is developed against the suspect he can be sought again.

While exasperating at times (especially for the investigating police) the alternative would be to allow courts to hold suspects indefinitely, until the prosecution was prepared to submit a charge.

Of all civilized countries, only America under the Patriot Act condones such a system.