'They treated me like a criminal': Calgary man who tried to sell bike on Kijiji arrested in police sting
Jason Walker, who had a receipt for the bicycle, says he was treated unfairly
A Calgary man who tried to sell a bicycle on Kijiji and wound up in the back of a police car is speaking out.
Jason Walker is the second person in a week to contact CBC News to complain about being wrongly targeted in a Calgary police stolen property sting.
He says he was just trying to sell his bike to get a little extra money for Christmas presents.
But police officers showed up during the sale negotiation and put him under arrest for possession of stolen property.
"They treated me like a criminal," he said.
Had the receipt
Walker says he bought the bike at Sport Chek earlier this year and had the receipt to prove it.
"There's no need to …. frisk me and throw me in the back of the police car. That didn't need to happen," he said.
Acting Insp. Mark Hatchette said the Calgary police started implementing Kjiji stings within the last couple of years and have had good success with them.
"I don't have any information on times when this technique has resulted in anything other than stolen property received and brought back to the original owner," he said.
Operations complaint-based
Hatchette said the Kijiji operations are complaint-based.
"A lot of the initial stages in these types of operations come from members of the public ... people that identify their own property online and obviously don't want to do anything themselves about it, which is a smart thing."
Anyone who believes they have been badly treated should come forward, Hatchette said.
Walker said he has filed a complaint with the professional standards section of the Calgary police.
Earlier this week, Karl Menier told CBC News he found himself locked in a police van getting grilled by officers after he arranged to meet a potential buyer for his used radar detector.
Menier said he wants an apology, and is still waiting for police to give him back his property.
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