Tuesday, July 10, 2007

VPD Media Releases

I would post direct/deep links directly to these two particular Vancouver Police Department Media Releases but the ability to do that was removed from the site when it was re-done, to make the site more useful. This was the reasoning I was given months ago when I asked pretty-please if they could let me link directly to a specific media release. It's no accident of implementation, either: they actually check the HTTP Referer [sic] header of all requests.

Anyway, here are two recent VPD Media Releases that caught my eye:

Police Files #07-128997 & #07-129107 - 7-11 Robbery 2007-07-05
July 4th, 11:15 p.m. – A 7-11 clerk working at 2092 E.Hastings was robbed not once, but twice in the same shift. The man paced in front of the store before entering and asking for cigarettes. He returned a few moments later and brandished a knife, demanding money from the clerk.

July 5th, 3:00 a.m. – The same man returned to the store, this time wearing a black t-shirt and a jean jacket. The clerk also noticed a tattoo on his neck. He pulled out the knife and demanded money again.

The clerk told investigators the man was Native or East Indian, in his early 20s, 5’10” tall, with a slim build and short dark hair that was shaved. He has a dark goatee and was wearing a white t-shirt and baggy blue jeans in the first robbery.

Police File #07-130693 - 7-11 Robbery 2007-07-06
July 6th, 4:20 a.m. – The same clerk has been robbed by the same man for the third time in just over 24 hours at the 7-11, 2092 E.Hastings St. The suspect produced a knife again, demanding money and then fled on foot.

The clerk told police the man was East Indian, 25 years of age, 6’ tall , with a thin build. He has a tattoo on the back of his neck and a small goatee and was wearing a long-sleeved jean shirt, jeans and a dark blue ball cap with a white logo on it.

To view these on the VPD web site, you must follow these steps:
  1. To to http://vpd.ca
  2. Click on media in the horizontal black navigation bar area.
  3. Click on Daily Media Briefing Summaries in the vertical navy blue navigation blob on the left-hand side of the page. I can supply no link because it is magical un-linkable Javascript [spit].
  4. Choose the appropriate day from the giant block of dates that is not organized by month, or at all really. Those hyper-links are also un-linkable Javascript.
  5. Now click on [Click here to find out more] under the media release that interests you. Do not try to open the media release in a new window or tab, because those links are actually phony Javascript links.
The new and improved VPD Media website is most definitely a failed redesign.

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