A surveillance video from Original Joe's reveals two young men enter the restaurant and leave with a woman's handbag. At two points one of the suspects is caught looking right at the camera.
(JULIE WHITTET / iNFOnews.ca)
May 29, 2013 - 6:27 AM
UPDATE: PURSE SNATCHING VIDEO NOT MEANT FOR PUBLIC EYES
An error in standard police investigation protocol led to premature online broadcasting of an un-edited surveillance video from Kelowna's Original Joe's restaurant.
Constable Kris Clark of the Kelowna RCMP says it's normal for the victim of a crime to be shown the video but not provided with a copy. For privacy reasons it's the RCMP's responsibility to protect the identity of other individuals visible in the surveillance footage.
"It wasn't croppped and other people in the video could be identifiable," Clark says.
If the footage can't be edited for privacy reasons, police would release a cropped or blurred screen shot of the suspects.
Unfortunately in this case the RCMP did not do their due diligence.
Normally surveillance videos are first distributed internally, giving members in the detachment a chance to investigate the suspects.
"If they can't be indentified then we go public," he says. "We want to minimize any privacy concerns."
4:30 p.m. May 28
A video allegedly showing a purse-snatching at Original Joes on Kelowna's Pandosy Street last Saturday has attracted more than 2,300 viewers.
The restaurant's footage, made public on YouTube, clearly depicts two young men leaving the premises with a purse in a hand.
In just over one minute, the men seat themselves at a booth in the restaurant, glance briefly at the menu and then calmly leave the restaurant in separate directions, one of them holding what appears to be a purse.
One of the suspects looks up repeatedly at the surveillance camera before leaving with the purse.
If you have any information that could help identify the men in the video, contact Kelowna RCMP Const. Dobbs at 250-763-3300.
To contact the reporter for this story, email Julie Whittet at jwhittet@infotelnews.ca or call (250)718-0428.
Video Credit: YouTube: blackwildflowers
The two suspects enter the restaurant at 1:08 minutes and can clearly be seen observing the surveillance camera before leaving with a purse.
News from © iNFOnews, 2013