(This
column was published in the North
Shore News on
May 6, 1998)
Impact of auxiliary decision growing
By Leo Knight
NOW,
I don't want to beat the issue to death, but the situation with
B.C.'s auxiliary and reserve policing programs is beginning to
get more and more bizarre.
Last
week we discussed an interview with Ujjal Dosanjh which did
absolutely nothing to clear up the confusion surrounding the
decision to disarm the auxiliaries and reserves.
Essentially,
all I could determine was there were "public safety
concerns" brought to the attorney general by the police and
a mysterious steering committee struck to examine the role of
auxiliaries and reserves in B.C.
The
specific nature of those concerns seemed to be completely
unknown to the AG, as was the identity of anyone attached to the
steering committee.
In
the intervening days between last week's column and this
writing, I have had the opportunity to speak with Barbara
Murphy, the Auxiliary/Reserve Program Director for the Police
Services branch of the attorney general's ministry.
In
diametric opposition to the bafflegab emanating from Dosanjh and
Thompson, Murphy was relatively open and engaging in the two
interviews I did with her.
This
doesn't of course mean that I am any closer to understanding the
reasons for the decision.
Murphy
described concerns she had about the issue of volunteer police
officers carrying weapons. Fair enough. But I was still left
unclear about why the decision was apparently made prematurely
in advance of the report from the steering committee, due in
September.
Murphy,
a lawyer from Manitoba, was appointed as program director last
June. She was faced with running a program she knew little
about.
She
set about trying to update policies and clarify the role of the
program participants. In the course of this, a decision was made
to strike a committee to conduct a "Review of B.C.'s
Auxiliary/Reserve Constable Program."
The
terms of reference for the committee, struck in February,
include to examine and determine the appropriate role of
auxiliary/reserve officers as well as examining standards for
recruitment, training, retraining and re-certification.
But
central to the committee's function seems to be funding and
liability. Issues at the heart of most NDP programs these days.
Now
it should be noted the AG contributed just $400,000 to fund the
auxiliary program last year. Less than a tenth of what Joy
MacPhail has spent in advertising to convince us she wasn't
lying in this year's budget which only claimed an operating
deficit of $95 million.
Members
of the committee include a representative of the AG -- Kevin
Begg, Director Police Services -- a representative of the
Commanding Officer of the RCMP, and a representative of the B.C.
Municipal Chiefs of Police.
Ostensibly,
the committee is supposed to consult a variety of
"stakeholders," including the participants in the
program, the B.C. Federation of Police Officers -- an
amalgamation of police unions-and the Union of BC Municipalities
(UBCM).
While
I'm sure these various organizations will be consulted in time,
this committee has only begun to perform its functions.
Yet,
on April 3, six months before the first report is due from the
committee, the AG announced the total disarmament of the
province's auxiliaries.
According
to the AG this is because of "public safety concerns."
Now, I'm sure the AG means well, he usually does when he is
misguided, which seems to be most of the time. But I can't find
any examples of the so-called "public safety
concerns."
The
only instance I can find of an auxiliary officer discharging his
weapon in the course of his duty occurred in 1995 in North
Vancouver in an incident with a stolen car. The suspects
attempted to run over the auxiliary's regular member partner.
The auxiliary fired several shots, stopping the stolen vehicle,
and the suspects were arrested. The auxiliary was deemed
"justified" in his use of his weapon in the
circumstances.
So
despite the hundreds of thousands of volunteer hours provided
annually by auxiliaries and the countless numbers of dangerous
incidents they are involved in, there was only one incident of
an auxiliary using his weapon and that deemed justified. The
whole program was then disarmed long before the committee has
even finished its study let alone report on its findings.
The
auxiliaries have withdrawn all their services in the wake of
Dosanjh's announcement, as have the municipal reserve forces.
Summer
events like Kelowna's Thunderfest, Penticton's Peachfest and
Nanaimo's Bathtub race are all in jeopardy because those towns
can't afford the overtime costs to have regular members perform
the functions of the volunteer officers.
Vancouver
Police Chief Bruce Chambers has reacted with his usual aplomb
and ham-handedness. He has now told Vancouver's reserves, who
are withholding their services, to either return to duty without
their weapons or resign. Oh, and no hard feelings.
The
chairman of the UBCM, Quesnel Mayor Steve Wallace, has written
all mayors in B.C. suggesting they withhold all approval for any
increase in police overtime budgets until this matter is
settled.
Langley
City Council has moved to urge the AG to postpone the decision
to disarm the auxiliaries until local governments have had a
chance to review the available information and until a thorough
study had been completed. Other councils are considering similar
motions.
What
does all this tell us?
The
AG has clearly jumped the gun in ordering the disarming. Why?
At
this point, who knows. I have heard the arguments from Murphy of
liability and safety concerns. Well, the province pays heavy
liability insurance premiums out of the $400,000 it spends
annually on the program. I still don't have a clue what safety
concerns they are talking about.
In
the interim, the costs are rising. Service to the public is
lessening and the volunteer auxiliaries and reserves are cooling
their heels at home.
If anyone can make any sense out of all this would you please let me know. In fact, if any common sense can be found in any of this, would you please let the AG know. He seems to be a little short of it these days.