How Edmonton police recovered a United Nations executive's stolen bag

An executive with the United Nations is thanking the Edmonton Police Service after it helped recover a stolen bag containing internationally sensitive information earlier this week.

Dominic Dixon works for the UN in Geneva, advising world leaders and reporting on topics like government corruption.

He’s currently in Edmonton visiting his parents.

On Monday afternoon, he set his bag down on a bench at the Southgate LRT station and turned to make a phone call.

“I moved a little into the shade to make a call, turned back in about two to three minutes, my bag was gone,” he told CTV News Edmonton.

The bag contained his laptop, iPad, and a folder of important papers.

“These are sensitive documents, pertaining to governments, pertaining to the United Nations.”

Dixon called EPS and explained the urgency of the matter, and says officers quickly made him feel at ease.

“I’ve dealt with law enforcement around the world at highest levels, and I must tell you I’m super proud of the Edmonton city police,” he said.

Dixon’s devices were all equipped with tracking capabilities, and police used that information in partnership with Edmonton transit security.

“They were very important in providing still photos of the suspect who took the bag,” said Sgt. Dan Tames of EPS.

With help from Dixon, police tracked the bag to different locations throughout the city for hours, at one point stopping an LRT train to search for the thief, and deploying Air 1 to search overhead.

“Air 1 became involved in this incident because the bag itself was being tracked through a wooded area, a very treed area, so being able to get the view of what was going on was important in trying to determine where the bag was and where the bag was going,” said Tames.

Officers eventually tracked the bag to the robber's apartment, where it was recovered along with the contents.

“She said, ‘Do you want to press charges?’ I said, ‘No, no, I don’t want to press charges. I’m tremendously grateful you got my stuff back,’” Dixon said.

Tames says despite the unusual circumstances of this case, they’d do the same for all Edmontonians.

“Ultimately we would do that for anyone who had their stuff stolen, as long as it had that tracking capability and us being able to utilize those things.”

“Sure, there is some intrigue I guess, based on the circumstances with this bag in particular, with this specific call, but ultimately it’s our job, and we just come to work every day and do it.”

With files from CTV News Edmonton's Jeremy Thompson.