Calgary community to hold vigil for alleged sex assault victim, police chief says tools to track suspects lacking

The northeast Calgary community of Taradale is preparing to hold a vigil for a young woman who was allegedly kidnapped from a bus stop, and sexually assaulted by two men a week ago.

As the investigation continues, Calgary’s police chief says officers and prosecutors need more tools to help battle back against sexual predators.

Chief Rick Hanson says policing has come a long way in terms of training, and the force works very closely with the sexual assault centre, but he said it’s a crime which is vastly under reported.

Even when it is reported, Hanson explains Canada’s current laws make it very hard to track down potential suspects: the Supreme Court has ruled they need something called a production order to start an investigation, which gives officers a name, phone number and address and makes an investigation legal, but getting that order can take up to a day.

“That just gives predators the opportunity to destroy evidence,” he said. “I realize it’s privacy versus the right of society to feel protected from predators and at some point in time, I think the community has to let politicians know that their right to be protected transcends the right for predators to be protected.”

Friday’s vigil is called ‘Glow in the Dark’, and will include a moment of silence, as well as a handful of speakers.

Khalil Karbani, President of the Taradale Community Association, says he has three daughters and couldn’t imagine something like this happening to them.

“I not only feel for the victim, I feel for the family,” he said. “If this was my daughter or my sister or anything like this.”

People are asked to start meeting for the vigil at 5 p.m. and bring glow sticks and flash lights.

It will run from 5:30 p.m. until 6 p.m.