Old Strathcona Police Station

This review is some what late but never the less I felt it should be put out there. I’ve only recently joined Unilocal so that is why I’m getting around to it now. It was a nice April afternoon one Tuesday in 2007 and I’m driving home from work. Got the window rolled down, listening to some music and having a coffee. I’m headed north on 99 street coming from 23 ave. For many blocks there’s a car driving along side me with 3 young disrespectful punks inside laughing and making fun of me. I didn’t notice until we came to a stop at a set of lights where they tried very hard to get my attention by laughing and yelling louder. I thought at first I had a low tire or something or maybe someone spray painted some kind of vulgar words on the side of my truck. I turned off the music and asked them what they were trying to tell me. The leader laughingly says «Nice music ! Ha ha ha ha ! «. The music I was playing was easy listening at a low volume. I replied: «It’s probably better than the shit you’re listening to». I drove off and they stayed along side me taunting me all the way. I tried to ignore them but it went on and on. When we got to 82^nd ave and stopped at the lights the idiot that had started all this got out of the car and sucker punched me in the face. I didn’t see him coming as I was looking up at the lights. Just then I see a bicycle cop, I beep my horn and flag him down. Tell him what happened as idiot who hit me is crouching down in the car like the coward that he is. Cop gets their info, sends them on their way then tells me he sees it as a ⁵⁰⁄₅₀ thing because those model citizens told him I started it. What ever. So I left and went home. Here comes the best part: 9 days later it’s 7 am and I’m driving to work. There’s no one on the road and I’m somewhere down 99 street around maybe 40^th ave. I look in my rear view mirror and it’s idiot who punched me with a friend behind me in that same rusted out piece of shit car. They get up along side me and idiot starts making gestures with his hands like he’s shooting, punching and so on. They follow me all the way to my work turning every turn I make until I pull into our parking lot. Then they drove away. I call the cops from work, tell the guy what happened and he advised me to go back to the same station where the bicycle cop was from. I go there after work and I meet up with this tall lumbering know it all chip on his shoulder intimidating young cop who looked at me as though I was interrupting his coffee break. Told him what happened and started filling out a report. While doing so, chip on the shoulder cop looks on his computer and says he’s seen the first report and he starts in on me about how trivial he felt the whole thing was and says I’m lying to him and how much more is there that I’m not telling him. He was clearly trying to intimidate me into not doing a report. You were fighting over music? he asked disgustedly. At this point I’ve had enough of this asshole and I say: so I’m the bad guy and this jerk who hit me and followed me can go on doing what ever he wants hu, is that it? Cop says: I didn’t say that. I folded up my unfinished report, handed it to the secretary and said to her: here throw this out and I started walking out the door. Just then, looser cop says: hey come back here. Finish your report ! To which I replied: What for? Nothing will get done about it ! and I left. This desk jockey couldn’t have cared less. I lost a lot of respect for cops that day. I’ve since had other encounters at other small community police stations where again I was blown off and treated like I was an annoyance over things like accident reports when someone hit my truck, reporting break ins etc. These community stations have to get some people in there who know how to interact with citizens rather than treating them like garbage. I’m paying them, they work for me. Not the other way around.

My one and only experience with the Old Strathcona EPS happened last summer but upon reading Shawnna P’s review I felt compelled to put this up hoping that maybe the right person would see it one day.
I was walking down Whyte last summer around the slightly more run down part near the A&W when I was approached by an intoxicated gentleman who got in my personal space and demanded change. I politely said «no sorry» and went to hit the button to cross the street. He then came up behind me and grabbed me inappropriately and took off down the street.
After getting over the initial shock I went to the side of the street opposite from him and tried see where he was going all the while on the phone with the Edmonton police dispatch. (The guy on the phone was a doll btw and very concerned with my safety). Shortly after calling two police cars blazed past me and the gentleman on the phone informed me they caught him up the street and asked me to go meet them in front of the eyeglass shop to take my statement.
This is where the excellent treatment ended as when I got there I was met by three male officers who didn’t seem all that interested in helping me or seeing this guy get charged. They just reminded me that he was homeless and pointed out that he was intoxicated and claiming he didn’t even remember seeing me the ten minutes prior.(this makes it all okay apparently?) I was feeling very foolish around that time and just wanted to speed the process along so I could get home and away from these men but thankfully they weren’t there much longer.
Another call came in and those three had to leave so I was left with a female officer who basically told me I was more then in the right to have him charged and if anybody touched her like that they would be missing a body part. So I did go ahead and have him charged and they later informed me he had thirteen warrants out for his arrest.
I am not meaning to demean the plight of the homeless in this city at all. I have encountered many friendly individuals down there who don’t take offense at all when you decline to give them change but the cops down there need a reality check. It is not an excuse to break the law and menace the public.