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Red Deer man with photographic memory credited by RCMP for helping recover over 400 stolen vehicles!
This story was sent to Todayville from Red Deer RCMP…
Red Deer RCMP recognize citizen for hundreds of stolen vehicle tips
In a recent private ceremony, Red Deer RCMP recognized a citizen for his outstanding contribution in helping police locate multiple stolen vehicles each month, sometimes while the criminals were still in them. Over the past two years, it’s estimated that DM (not his real name) has helped police recover more than 400 stolen vehicles.
DM didn’t want to use his real name for this story because it’s the anonymity that allows him to spot and call in so many stolen vehicles. His job requires him to drive throughout the city every day, and that regular presence in every Red Deer neighbourhood grants him a kind of invisibility to criminals who are on the lookout for police. He’s also quick to note that he doesn’t call in the stolen vehicles while he’s driving; as a professional driver, he’s all too aware of the dangers of distracted driving.
DM’s interest in helping police recover stolen vehicles – and in seeing those responsible get arrested – started a few years ago after his own car was stolen when he left it unlocked and running. When he posted about it on social media, he says, “I got raked over the coals for leaving it running with the keys inside. It was a lesson learned.”
That experience prompted DM’s involvement with the Facebook group “Central Alberta Stolen Vehicles,” which currently has about 10,000 followers. It also created a new use for a rare skill he possesses – a photographic memory.
Every morning, DM checks the Central Alberta Stolen Vehicles page and other social media groups focused on stolen vehicles and makes a list of any outstanding stolen vehicles; thanks to his incredible memory for vehicle makes, colours, details and license plates, however, he rarely has to consult his list once he’s compiled it. “If I’ve seen it once, it’s almost guaranteed I’ll find it,” he says. “Often if a vehicle is stolen in the morning, I find it by afternoon.”
That dedication, combined with his photographic memory and his job, make DM an exceptional resource for RCMP and for the community. He sees his contribution as an important complement to the work done by RCMP, and enjoys the feeling of community involvement that comes with connecting online with victims and helping to find their stolen vehicles.
“It’s people’s livelihood – they need to be able to get to work, or get the kids to appointments. When they get their vehicles back it’s such a sense of relief that they don’t have to go out and spend money on another car,” he says. “These groups create a feeling of community – we do communicate with police, and yes, they are looking for these vehicles. I get angry when people put down the police because they don’t see all the work they’re doing. They’re hard working people.”
After his own car was stolen, DM reported it to the RCMP and then started looking for it himself. It didn’t take long for him to find it parked in a retail lot, still occupied by the suspect. He called RCMP and the man behind the wheel was arrested; DM notes that, at the time of the arrest, his car was full of stolen property from a Red Deer business. “Take it from someone who did it,” DM says of leaving his car unlocked and running, “I enabled him to get down to (the store) and clean them out.”
After his car was returned to him, DM notes he spent two days cleaning it. “You have that disgusting feeling – you feel violated. Someone has been in your space and you don’t know what they’ve done in it. I still have ‘what ifs’.”
He enjoys working with the RCMP and the call takers, who have come to recognize his voice and name, and appreciate the courtesy he shows when he’s asked to follow the same call logging procedure each time he calls – which is sometimes several times a day.
“It was a pleasure to see DM recognized for his contribution to our community in locating stolen vehicles, and it was also a great opportunity to let him know how much the call takers appreciate his patience and understanding when we’re taking his information for dispatch,” says one of the call takers who deals with DM regularly. “We’re such a busy detachment, and often he is put on hold while a more urgent call is dispatched or while we answer other incoming calls. He has left an impression on all of us.”
Superintendent Ken Foster, officer in charge at the Red Deer RCMP detachment, describes DM’s contribution as an extraordinary embracing of the police tenet that citizens are the eyes and ears of every community. The ceremony recognizing his contribution was hosted by Superintendent Foster, Inspectors Grobmeier and Lagrange, and former Red Deer RCMP Superintendent Scott Tod. DM was presented with a plaque at a reception in front of attendees including DM’s family, RCMP members, and several call takers who were glad to finally put a face to the voice they’ve come to know so well.
“This one individual has been an active part of the recovery of more than 400 vehicles over the past two years, and about half of those vehicles were occupied by criminals when RCMP arrived,” says Foster. “Not only has DM helped police return many stolen vehicles to their rightful owners, he plays an important role in helping us arrest many career criminals and put them before the courts. We’ve recovered firearms, drugs and large amounts of stolen identity documents from these vehicles. It’s astounding to see the positive impact that one person can have on a community. Red Deer RCMP commend his commitment to crime prevention and reduction and are grateful for his service.”
DM was surprised and touched to be recognized by Red Deer RCMP for the significance of his contribution. “It made me feel great,” he says. “I feel honoured.”
DM has two pieces of advice for citizens, and both come from his experience as a victim of crime and from seeing so many stolen vehicles in the course of his daily travels. First, he stresses the importance of never leaving your vehicle unlocked and running. And second, as a man who knows every inch of Red Deer thanks to driving its streets every day, he has this to say: “Something I want people to do is look out your window. You know your neighbourhood – you need to pay attention to what’s going on. Notice who or what doesn’t belong and report it to the RCMP.”
“Until you’ve been physically affected by (vehicle theft), you can’t relate,” DM says. “I’ve been a victim and I know what it feels like. I would never wish anyone that feeling. Now that I’ve seen it firsthand, I’m going to help as many people as possible.”
From the Daily Caller News Foundation
CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss is reportedly planning to dramatically change the network’s coverage to eliminate left-wing bias and make the newsroom more efficient.
Weiss has been handed a mandate for change by Paramount SkyDance’s David Ellison, the CEO of CBS News’ parent company, which bought her company, The Free Press, for $150 million, according to The Wall Street Journal (WSJ). Ellison wants Weiss to bring “news that reflects reality” and journalism that “doesn’t seek to demonize, but seeks to understand.”
“I wanna blow things up,” Weiss has reportedly told her colleagues during meetings.
During the hiring process, Weiss has reached out to outside talent directly rather than speaking to their agents, which is considered the traditional method of communication, according to the WSJ. She has also reportedly been highly involved in booking guests in an attempt to fix the network’s ratings and make a lasting change.
Weiss is focused on trying to reshape “CBS Evening News,” which has consistently ranked third place in comparison to the evening programs on ABC News and NBC News. “CBS Evening News” typically averages around 4 million total viewers. On the week of November 3, the program garnered 4.2 million total viewers and 564,000 viewers in the 25 to 54 key demographic, while “NBC Nightly News” and “ABC World News Tonight” averaged 7.2 million and 6.6 million total viewers, as well as 929,000 and 883,000 in the 25-54 demo, according to AdWeek.
John Dickerson, who currently hosts “CBS Evening News,” announced on Oct. 27 that he will be departing the network in January. Weiss has reportedly considered poaching CNN’s Anderson Cooper and Fox News’ Bret Baier, though Baier said he will remain at Fox News in the short-term since his contract goes through the end of 2028, according to the WSJ.
A source close to Cooper told the WSJ that the CNN host is not interested in hosting “CBS Evening News.”
“CBS Mornings” host Gayle King’s contract is up in early 2026, prompting Weiss to reportedly consider finding a cheaper alternative to her $15 million salary, according to WSJ.
The median age of viewers who watch CBS News is 58 years old, according to a Pew Research survey.
When she stepped into her role, Weiss sent emails to staff asking them to outline their jobs and provide feedback on “how we can make CBS News the most trusted news organization in America and the world.” Weiss said she would have had to “throw in the towel a very, very long time ago” if she were concerned about the negative press her decisions will receive.
Approximately 100 staffers were laid off once Weiss took over in October, which were part of Paramount’s layoffs of about 1,000 employees. The CBS News Race and Culture Unit, founded in July 2020, was completely wiped out as part of the layoffs.
Media
Breaking News: the public actually expects journalists to determine the truth of statements they report
CBC’s David Cochrane explaining to viewers how the CBC is blameless for accurately reporting a statement later determined to be false
Who knew? Plus! Online smartassery by reporters continues to curse the industry, Vancouver loves Harry Potter (shhhh!), layoffs continue and newspaper revenue now in uncontrolled descent
Journalists just love sensational political accusations and way too many of them are more than happy to spread them far and wide while shrugging aside their first obligation, the truth.
Why they put so much faith in the honesty of politicians, who have a history of being a bit, shall we say, truthy, is quite beyond me, but reporters often seem more interested in it being true something salacious was said than they are whether the scandalous thing that was said is true.
To help save journalism from bad journalism please subscribe to The Rewrite.
A fine example of this behaviour, which continues to undermine public trust in journalism, unfolded a week ago. That was when freshly-minted Liberal MP and Tory turncoat Chris d’Entremont told the CBC’s Catherine Cullen that, after publicly musing about crossing the floor, “Conservative House leader Andrew Scheer and party whip Chris Warkentin “barged” into his office, pushed open the door — almost knocking down his assistant — and yelled at him about “how much of a snake” he was.”
The Conservatives, in response, issued a statement accusing d’Entremont of telling barefaced lies and described a much calmer scenario. CBC then issued a correction after d’Entremont “clarified” an embellishment but some journalists were happy to ignore that and stick with repeating the original, more salacious version.
Stu Benson of The Hill Times enthusiastically Tweeted that ““[D’Entremont] says Conservative House leader Andrew Scheer and party whip Chris Warkentin ‘barged’ into his office, pushed his assistant aside and yelled at him about ‘how much of a snake’ he was.”
National Newswatch, despite CBC’s correction still had a Tweet up days later stating “Pushing, yelling from Conservative leadership ‘sealed the deal’ on defection: d’Entremont. MP says Conservatives felt like ‘part of a frat house rather than a serious political party.”
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Ignoring the correction and “clarification,” CBC’s Power & Politics used the clip of d’Entremont’s self-confessed embellishment and repeated what both he and the CBC knew not to be true. To be fair, the segment that can be found here fully details the Conservatives’ response but, according to one of the CBC’s most diligent critics, no on air correction has been made. Instead, host David Cochrane went out of his way to point out that while his editors had used the term “correction,” the CBC was blameless for reporting d’Entremont’s admittedly false representation of the event.
The pattern of behaviour indicates to the public that news organizations do not take their obligation to the truth seriously. The public actually expects journalists to seek to establish the truth of statements they are reporting before they report them.
Edmonton City News reporter Sean Amato meanwhile managed to take foolish online smartassery to a new level when, repeating the Liberals’ Trump = Tories theme, he posted:
“Quite the press conference from (Conservative Leader) Pierre Poilievre in Calgary today. Basically…the Liberals suck, the media sucks and a lot of other stuff in Canada sucks. Hey, it worked for Trump.”
Tens of thousands of views and (at time of writing) more than 500 comments later, he replied with renewed smug smartassery:
“Never thought a tweet that says “the Liberals suck, the media sucks” would anger so many Conservatives. But here we are 
.”
Here we are, indeed. Amato appears to have set a new personal best for comments in response to one of his Tweets while simultaneously embedding the impression that not only he but all journalists are biased against Conservatives. And, I ask, for what? And why?
Maybe think before you Tweet or, better yet, just shut up. Many good journalists find that works just fine.
Amato, though, seems determined to prioritize personal commentary over journalism. When he recently got some pushback on lack of objectivity, his response was unrepentant.
“Bonnie…mute me, follow people you like, no hard feelings. But let me be free too. Cheers!”
Liberation awaits.
The “controversial” Harry Potter Forbidden Forest experience opened 10 days ago in Vancouver, weeks after the parks board, cowed by trans activists, vowed such an event would never happen again.
The distress of the “Qmunity” over the connection to J.K. Rowling and her vocal insistence on a traditional definition of women was well documented in the weeks leading up to the event. But there was nary a peep from CTV, CBC or Global News when organizers announced on media day that the pre-sales were the largest they had experienced anywhere in the world.
I found coverage in The Daily Hive and in Black Press papers in British Columbia. But it wasn’t until Remembrance Day that one of the city’s legacy media, the Vancouver Sun, delivered a review of any kind. CBC, CTV and Global News appear to be boycotting.
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Operating revenue for Canada’s publishers continues to plummet – an indication the nation’s newspapers are increasingly unable to deliver the readers needed to provide results to advertisers.
Statscan reported a decline of a whopping 17.9 per cent since 2022, which compares with a drop of 7.3 percent from 2020-2022.
News Media Canada lobbyist Paul Deegan, meanwhile, confessed to a House of Commons committee that operators “cannot make a buck as a digital-only publisher,” have failed to transition their business models and still need revenue from print.
Profit margins, according to Statscan, are down to 3.2 per cent.
Postmedia, meanwhile, is later than usual in posting its annual report but has a little under another two weeks to do so.
Last week, The Rewrite noted how an extra $150 million from the government for the CBC would be bad news for everyone else in the business. This week, Groupe TVA announced it was eliminating 87 positions and laid the blame squarely at Prime Minister Mark Carney’s door.
“Repeated appeals to government authorities to support the private television industry, at a time when it faces fierce competition from the web giants and CBC/Radio-Canada, have been ignored,” a company statement explained.
Poilievre, who has been the focus lately of much of the press inclined to favour the Liberals, tried to shame media into paying some attention to dissent from the likes of Beaches-East York MP Nate Erskine-Smith within Liberal ranks.
It was left to the Toronto Star’s Althia Raj to gently explain to his Deputy Leader, Melissa Lantsman, why dissent within Liberal ranks is not a story because, unlike dissent with Conservative ranks, it’s in the best interests of the country.
“Nate has normalized independent thought so it isn’t new/s,” she wrote. “IMO it would be nice to see this from other MPs. Those outside of cabinet, their job is to hold the govt to account. More independent thought means better reports, better debate, better policy. Better social cohesion too.”
Take that, you silly Tories! 
The narrative is entrenched.
Some of you will remember how last fall, CTV News terminated two employees following the doctoring of Poilievre’s quotes in a fashion not too dissimilar to that used by the producers of a Panorama documentary at the BBC. Two of the BBC’s senior executives walked the plank there when it was revealed its team had intentionally misrepresented a speech by US President Donald Trump, who then threatened to sue the organization for $1 billion.
Well, one of those fired CTV employees, Derek Thacker, is back on the list of approved Parliamentary Press Gallery members as an employee of Global News.
Don’t forget to check out this week’s Full Press podcast and, if you haven’t done so yet, click at least one of the Subscribe, Share or Donate buttons provided.
(Peter Menzies is a commentator and consultant on media, Macdonald-Laurier Institute Senior Fellow, a past publisher of the Calgary Herald, a former vice chair of the CRTC and a National Newspaper Award winner.)
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