A little background to the tale. In Ontario, unlike in most states in the US and some provinces in Canada as well, the distribution of liquor is solely by the government.
The agency is called The Liquor Control Board of Ontario and its retail stores are called LCBO outlets. The LCBO is a hugely profitable enterprise whose profits are in the billion dollar range and most of it is turned over to the Ontario government to chip in for health care funding and other public purses. The stores are spacious, clean and offer varieties of wine, beer and spirits from all over the world. Prices are on the high side but knowing about the destination of their profits, few complain. Their ordering systems are well organized and if they don’t stock a particular king of alcoholic beverage, you are allowed to order it from a source country with personal quantity limitations and LCBO fees attached so that you don’t get it at dirt cheap levels. Of late there have been a few robbery incidents late night in remote store locations, which had caused the LCBO to ask all its employees to let those customers who steal, even blatantly, to walk away without confronting them. Now to get to the Toronto Police Services. The force is well paid, overpaid many think. The lowest rank constables pull in about $80K annually and a 20 year service Constable assuming no promotions in between, earns at least 150K+. Detectives and Sergeants of course earn much more. They can retire after 20 years if they want to, at which point they are entitled to a pension of about 60%, of a figure based on the best 5 years average of their salaries plus all health and other benefits. In a word, to say they are overpaid could be an understatement. Here begins the story: A few days ago, two customers enter a store, steal two bottles of black label and walk away. Store cameras record them and the police arrive after they are long gone. Our jokers probably have a record, so police have no problem apprehending them. The police find the two bottles and take them off the perpetrators. Instead of booking the stolen liquor at the police station, they take it to their homes to have a celebration. The LCBO had geo tagged the two boxes and exactly located where they were. The Ontario Provincial Police which has jurisdiction on highways and outside the metro area were called in. They obtained search warrants, raided the two homes of the constables and found the bottles. This geotagging is a new thing. Almost nobody knew about it until now that it is news. One of the two officers had 27 years of service and the other 5. Repercussions are now in the works. Reminds me closely of a Tolstoy story we learnt in middle school about a man in Russia, greedy for land who went to moan and complain to the king about his lack of it. OK says the king, tomorrow you set out and all the land you will cover from and back to your house until the sun sets, is yours. At day break so as not to miss a minute, he sets out and walks a considerable distance by noon. He covered all the land he could possibly need. It was a blistering hot day, but he thought to himself, I’ll walk a little more, after all it is fertile and precious land and I’ll still reach back home by dusk. He took a short break and set out again, walking and walking until it was sunset. As the last rays of the sun went down and he was back, he collapsed from fatigue. His family buried him in a six by two hole in the ground. That was all he needed. How much land does a man need? Tolstoy asks. Roland. Toronto.
