A police expert says the Sault Police Service did good work in the investigation that led to Scott Devlin’s arrest
A police expert from southern Ontario offered a kudos to the Sault Police Service in the arrest of Scott Devlin.
“I think it was a good investigation for them to be in the area and to be able to execute the warrant themselves,” said Scott Blandford, an associate professor at Wilfrid Laurier University who serves as the coordinator of the policing and public safety program.
Blandford spoke with SooToday yesterday after the Sault Police Service announced they arrested Devlin on Thursday near Toronto’s Union Station.
Devlin faces charges of second degree murder and indignity to a dead body in connection with the death of 30-year-old Mikaila Straatsma, whose body was found on June 19.
Blandford said Sault police may have tracked Devlin down a few different ways.
“They’re following up on leads, so they could have got a tip from someone in that area,” Blandford said, adding that police may have been in Toronto interviewing that person.
“The tip may have been so recent that it caused them to be in that area looking and they found him.
“It could be a case where they had information not from Toronto specifically, but they’re familiar with the case and they may have had past dealings with the suspect . . . so they knew him more than just from a photo,” Blandford said.
In that case police may have gone to Toronto because they would have been in a better position to identify him in person based on that information.
“People change their appearance and photographs don’t always give you those nuances because they’re one-dimensional,” he said.
Blandford said police may have also been tracking Devlin using other means.
“It may have been a case of where they had tracked him down, for example, with banking information if he used a debit or credit card and that led them to the area.
“It’s all part of the investigative process and there’s a number of different factors.
“It’s hard to say which would have been the one that brought them down there, but clearly because of the severity of it being a homicide, they would certainly be digging into every possible lead they had,” Blandford said.
He also discussed why the Sault Police Service only recently identified Devlin as a murder suspect.
Devlin went missing on June 17, two days before Straatsma’s body was found.
On Aug. 27 police executed a search warrant in Devlin’s apartment.
On Oct. 29, police announced that Devlin was wanted on a Canada-wide warrant and he was last seen on June 17 near Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport.
“You want to make sure that you have as much of an airtight case as possible,’ Blandford said.
Police need to not only determine what is evidence, but also make sure they’ve ruled out any unnecessary evidence.
“You’re trying to not leave any holes because if you have a gap in your investigation, that leaves the potential for reasonable doubt when you go to trial,” Blandford said.
Devlin made his first court appearance yesterday and will return to court on Nov. 20.