Dear Editor:
Re: West Vancouver Police Respond to Hazing Incident, Feb. 27 news story.
I felt uneasy after reading this article about an “abduction prank.”
Police said it didn’t meet the elements of a public mischief charge because there wasn’t an intent to deceive authorities.
I am still left wondering if there was a more serious offence relating to the abduction in this hazing. Was it truly a “prank” meaning all involved were willingly co-operating in order to “play a joke” on an observer? Or was the “prank” being pulled on the boy who was taken into the vehicle? In the latter case, that may not be a joke at all.
There have been many hazings in which assaults and abductions, even deaths have occurred that are glossed over in the name of a “hoax.”
Hazings are no joke, and often include criminal offences.
Trivializing them by naming them as jokes makes it harder for victims to speak up. One can only hope this is not the case here.
Brenda Hardie
North Vancouver
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