Al Arsenault was on holidays and travelling in China. He was approached
by a young man who struck up a conversation. During their talk,
the young fellow revealed to Al that he was a policeman. Al thought
this was kind of strange, because the guy seemed awfully young
to be one. Shrugging it off, Al thought maybe policemen were hired
at a younger age in China.
The conversation continued, when the young man produced his badge
wallet to back up his claim. Inside, Al saw, not a metal badge,
but, a cloth shoulder patch, from of all places, Vancouver. Now
Al knew something was really amiss here. Looking around, Al saw,
tucked in the seat pocket, the antenna from a portable radio.
Pulling it out of the pocket, he soon discovered it to be a Vancouver
Police Department radio.
Al suddenly remembered reading a bulletin, about a young man in
Vancouver, who likes to dress up in a homemade police uniform
and pretend that he is a cop. You guessed it, the same fellow
who was seated next to Al. Here, in the outer reaches of China,
thousands of miles from home. The kid was also on vacation in
China, visiting relatives.
Just about this time, Al revealed to the young man, that he too
was a policeman, only in his case, a real one. Al took possession
of the radio and various other pieces of equipment that the kid
had. He wrote down the young fellows name and address in Vancouver.
His name was Ah Tso (pronounced Ah So). He was informed that he
would be charged with Possession of Stolen Property upon his return
to Vancouver.
After Al returned to Vancouver, he waited a few weeks for the
fellow to return. Al then went to his address and interviewed
him. It seems that the portable radio had been stolen from the
front seat of a Dog Squad car several months back. Just to add
to the coincidences, Al had been a backup unit on the very call
that this portable radio had been stolen at. Ah Tso, was actually
the complainant on the call. He phoned police to report a prowler.
Poor Al, even when he goes on holidays, he just can't get away
from work. What a bizzare set of coincidences besides. As for
Ah Tso, there were several more incidents over the next few months
of him impersonating police officers. In one case he actually
arrested a shoplifter. Several months later though, Ah Tso was
killed in a head on collision while driving in the Interior of
British Columbia. Recovered from the wreckage, in Ah Tso's wallet,
was found Detective Al Cattley's metal hat badge. Thus the final
chapter had been written in the strange case of Ah Tso and his
police fetish.