(This column was published in the North Shore News on Nov. 5, 1997)
Tough talk, no action on crime
By Leo Knight
ATTORNEY General Ujjal Dosanjh appeared on a CKNW talk show this week talking tough about controlling spiralling crime numbers and at the same time weaseling about "conditional sentences" and "non-violent offenders" and alternatives to jail.
Personally, I'm sick of the crap coming out of Dosanjh's mouth about how tough he is going to be on crime. The real reason crime numbers are rising is quite simple. Those who commit crimes are, in all probability, not going to face any consequences for their acts.
Let me give you an example. Last Wednesday, a North Van Mountie was on patrol late at night when he observed a vehicle with Alberta plates speed past him.
The young Constable went after the car. When the driver, a 40-year-old man, noticed the policeman on his tail, he promptly bailed out and fled on foot. The officer had no idea what he was dealing with. He called in the situation and requested assistance. In the interim, he looked in the dumped vehicle. The keys were still in the ignition. He noticed fresh vomit on the front floor. In the back, he observed a container full of new and expensive camera equipment.
He still had no idea what he was dealing with. A check of the registered owner of the vehicle determined there was a Canada-wide warrant outstanding for the owner, a female with an Alberta address.
At the same time, other members were dealing with an alarm at Kerrisdale Cameras on Lonsdale. The attending police determined a break-in had occurred and numerous pieces of camera equipment were missing.
The Mounties, being good at arithmetic, put two and two together. A dog was called. The dogmaster and his charge tracked straight from the dumped vehicle to a cowering butthead with 20 years of criminal history.
The butthead, who for the purposes of this column, shall remain nameless, lives in Langley. He is a junkie who feeds his habit by stealing from me and thee. It's a strange occupation, but suffice to say he's got lots of experience.
"Butthead" didn't admit to breaking into the camera shop, but did admit to dumping the car. He says the vomit was because he was in dire need of a fix.
He was arrested and lodged in RCMP cells after the camera equipment in the car was identified as having been taken from Kerrisdale cameras. The police recommended charges of B&E and possession of stolen property against the butthead. They then set about compiling the list of charges and convictions accrued by butthead over the past 20 or so years since he began his career as a crook.
You see, the police actually thought that the butthead displayed very suspicious behavior by running away from a vehicle associated to a wanted person. Keys were left in the vehicle and there was fresh vomit on the floor. The officer thought, given the circumstances, he should probably investigate further. It was then he located the camera gear.
Well, evidently, he shouldn't have done that. According to Crown counsel, the officer didn't go get a warrant to search the car before locating the camera gear. A process, by the way, which would have taken several hours to complete.
There is certainly no legal precedent for obtaining a warrant in circumstances resulting from a fresh pursuit. Any jurist who concluded such an asinine thing should be placed gently in a rubber room and relieved of anything sharp.
Here is just another situation where a Crown counsel is seeking to adhere to the attorney general's instructions to cut trial costs by not approving charges that clearly should be laid.
There is no reason in the world backing up the specious argument presented to the police by this Crown counsel not to proceed with this charge.
Simply put, if Crown is trying to make new law, it is incumbent upon it to place the matter before a judge. It is not Crown's mandate to attempt to interpret existing law. Butthead was ordered released from jail and presumably, the experience didn't inconvenience him too much. At least the camera gear was returned to its rightful owner, no thanks to Crown counsel, which seems to have forgotten its first responsibility is to act as advocate for us, the public, not its political masters.
In reality, there's no place to put criminals in custody. The NDP have so badly mismanaged the province's finances, they can't afford to put up a tar-paper shack to house people who have demonstrated time and again they cannot function in society without stealing, robbing, defrauding and whatever else they can do to get money without actually earning it legitimately.
All we get from the politicians is crap about "conditional sentences" and "non-violent" offenders. It certainly appears their only reality is to provide enough plausible lies to allow themselves to stand a chance at re-election.
Perish the thought.
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