(This column was published in the North Shore News on Dec. 24, 2003)
'Stanley Park Six' not evil
By Leo Knight
AFTER the guilty pleas by the six Vancouver Police officers involved in the
events in Stanley Park last January 24th, I suggested everyone dial down the
rhetoric.
This seemed to be happening until the officers appeared in Vancouver court last week for their sentencing hearings. Then the lawyers took over. I won’t repeat all of the incredible things said by the various parties involved in the drama cum media circus. Save and except to say that the actions of the police on that night were equated to the Nazi’s treatment of the Jews in pre-war Germany and the treatment of blacks in the deep South at the hands of white racists.
Obviously these statements are nonsense. And, in a significant way, they illustrate how this thing got out of hand and where the VPD went terribly wrong.
In a nutshell, the case of the Stanley Park Six is much ado about nothing. Some street thugs were arrested for a Breach of the Peace. They were taken away from the area where the problems were being caused and released pursuant to Department policy. In the process, push came to shove, literally. But that was it, pushing and shoving. It was not an abduction or a beating.
So, let’s get beyond the rhetoric.
From the get go, the VPD has been behind the media 8-ball in this. Allow me to make a suggestion: when the story broke, as inaccurate as it was, had the Department held a press conference and explained exactly what occurred, provided the results of their not unsubstantial internal investigation, the story likely would have died a natural death within a couple of days.
But, for whatever reason, that just goes against the grain of a police force.
There’s an inherent distrust of the media by the police. And the reverse is true as well. How has this occurred? After all, both entities are ultimately responsible to the public.
Nearly thirty years ago, when I started my policing career, information was more easily shared than it is today. For example, at what used to be VPD headquarters at 312 Main Street, the media had their own room. Reporters would work from there and some kept their full time desks there.
At the front counter was a clipboard which contained a copy of every occurrence report from the previous 24 hours. Equally, the duty officer was available to provide details on what the significant events of the night were.
Also at the time, the newsrooms and many of the reporters assigned to the police beat had scanners to monitor the dispatch calls and the media would roll on those calls they deemed important with news value. At significant events, the media would show up and actually be able to bring you chapter and verse of what the police were doing in your name.
While many of the police officers at the sharp end of things complained of the scrutiny, many, if not most, developed relationships with the media and conversely, the media grew to understand what the cops were doing and why.
This is all gone now. The media no longer have access to police radio transmissions. This was done, ostensibly, to ensure security on the radio bands used by the police. And frankly, the same could be accomplished without excluding the media.
In 1987, Sgt. Larry Young was shot and killed by a drug-crazed lunatic as the VPD tactical team was trying to execute a search warrant of the premise where they knew guns and drugs were to be found. The bad guy was hunkered down inside with a gun in his hand and a scanner at his side. He knew exactly what the police outside were doing before they did it.
Young, ever the leader, was first through the door as the flash-bangs went off in the other room as a distraction. Unfortunately, the scumbag wasn’t distracted. Young was shot and killed in the first fusillade and right behind him, then-Constable Al Cattley, who retired as a homicide detective, got hit in the thigh as he was diving out of the way.
Since then police have moved away from allowing anyone the ability to scan their radio transmissions. But, I would argue that action has also driven a wedge between the media and the police.
Shortly before Larry Young was killed, there was a dramatic hostage taking. All the media covered the event and there was dramatic footage and photographs of Sgt. Young snatching the baby victim from the distraught man holding it.
Likely as not, if that occurred today, the media would not be there. We’d never see what a great job was done by the police and have those images of a selfless and brave man who subsequently gave his life serving his community.
A gap has grown between the media and the police. Well, a chasm really. I would guess that 70 per cent or more of the people working in the media today have no understanding of the way the police work because they are not afforded the opportunity to watch them first hand and understand.
It is the reason for all the rhetoric in this case. The media now have an inherent distrust of the police because their work is done in the dark, so to speak. If they don’t provide a full account of an incident hiding behind nebulous privacy laws, then the media has only one side of a story. In this case, it was the side provided by a crack dealer with a record as long as your arm and barely a nodding acquaintance with the truth.
The result of that was on display in court last week.
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