Crime & Punishment

In the late evening hours of Monday evening, residents of Maple Ridge, B.C. were treated to the sight of a man wielding an axe against another man in the downtown area.   The RCMP were called and separated the two men. Apparently, the RCMP determined the incident was “consensual” and no charges were laid.  Consensual? How in the world does the man being chased consent to a fight with a man with an axe? There is citizen journalist video of at least part of the incident and it is clear the man who “consented,” according to the RCMP, was running away from the man with the axe, evidently not consenting. It is also clear that when the men were in close proximity the man with the axe was swinging it in an apparent attempt to hit and injure the other man. I failed to see the “consent” as he endeavoured to ward off the blows.  “Police responded to a report of two men fighting on Monday night in the 222000 block area of Lougheed Hwy. Upon police attendance it was determined the fight was consensual between two men known to each other. No significant injuries occurred and an axe was seized. Both parties were uncooperative with police and not interested in police assistance,” said RCMP Insp. Adam Gardner to the media. It’s hard to know where to start with that bit of nonsense. A number of charges in the Criminal Code apply in this case not in the least being in possession of a...

An Angus Reid poll released on January 10 surveyed Canadians about their opinions on the justice system and policing. The poll found that 48% of those surveyed said crime had grown in their community in the last five years. (True North)

When Chris Watts, a convicted sex offender and assessed psychopath, was released from a British Columbia prison in 2017, not a single halfway house in the province would take him. They deemed him too great a risk. Some feared for staff safety. (CBC)

It’s been a stunning 24 hours in Canadian politics since I wrote about former Attorney General and Minister of Justice Jody Wilson-Raybould taking a wrecking ball to the Parliament of Canada. (True North)

As reported last week, the two Vancouver-area cops trapped in Cuba for the past eight months were acquitted of the accusation of sexual assault by a five all-female judicial panel. The accuser declined to attend to give evidence. The only evidence against them at trial was a statement given to a Cuban investigator the night in question. At no time was there any ability to challenge her statement by way of cross examination. (PTC Exclusive)

Over the course of the past month, I have told you the story of the two Vancouver area police officers being held in Cuba on fabricated allegations of rape made by a fellow Canadian tourist.  (Crime & Punishment)

Like many of you I was gripped by the testimony last week of Christine Blasey Ford who accused US Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault way back when the two were teenagers and high school students, in what we think was the summer of 1982. 

There’s been a lot of reaction to my last post about the two Vancouver area cops who went to Cuba for a holiday last March and are still there because the Cuban government won’t let them leave. VPD Constable Mark Simms, then 28, and his close friend, Port Moody PD Constable Jordan Long, then 30, were enjoying a planned holiday of sun and relaxation when they had a fateful encounter with a girl. (Prime Time Crime exclusive)

It was supposed to be a great week of fun in the sun, a week on the beach in Cuba, get out of the March rains in Vancouver and a much-needed respite from the stresses of the streets in the Lower Mainland for two cops.

This week, a serving member of the RCMP sent a message to the Prime Minister of Canada complaining about the actions of the Commissioner of the RCMP. Yes, you read that right. I have never heard of such a thing.  The author is one of the YVR Four who was scapegoated by the Force.  I have written much about their case, included the fact they were scapegoated, thrown under the bus, and two of them served jail sentences for doing their job.  And the RCMP knew that all along. In a May 2008 report examining the actions of the RCMP in the October 2007 incident at YVR in which Polish traveller Robert Dziekanski lost his life, the authors spent more than 1200 pages examining, primarily, their communications failures and errors after the event. But, throughout the document it clearly states the members were in the lawful execution of their duties and acted according to their training and the use of a Taser (CEW) was appropriate.  Indeed, in the report it links to an email written to the Commanding Officer, Deputy Commissioner Gary Bass in November 2007, a month after the incident which says all of that.  Yet, they never said that publicly. They never defended their members despite the withering media criticism, the subsequent Braidwood Commission, the Special Prosecutor appointment, the prosecution of all four members and the conviction and jailing of two of them. They never came to their defence despite knowing all along they did nothing wrong. The author of the complaint requested...