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(Prime Time Crime exclusive June 23, 2008)
They’ve done it again
By Bob Cooper
My last column was partly concerned with a most unsettling event. Against all odds I found myself in agreement with both Ian Mulgrew and the Vancouver Sun Editorial Board on the issue of Crown Counsel claiming immunity at Public Inquiries or Coroner’s Inquests.. I concluded by reassuring my readers that I wouldn’t make a habit of it. As if to make me a liar, the Sun endorsed Chief Constable Jim Chu’s criticism of the abysmally lax sentencing of habitual criminals in Vancouver Provincial Court. The Chief had done his homework and a study of Vancouver’s most prolific criminals showed very clearly that as the rate of convictions rose in each case, the length of sentences dropped.
It’s as if the judges are rewarding these crooks for increased productivity. It’s a judicial exercise in social experimentation that completely ignores the plight of victims. Sort of like those medical studies except that in each case the victims get the placebo. Chief Provincial Judge Hugh Stansfield advanced a feeble defense saying that his judges were just applying the law and if the police disagree they should take their concerns to Parliament. This is simply fiction as was pointed out in the same newscast by retired Provincial Judge Wallace Craig.
The fact is that many judges apply the laws they personally support and either ignore or use their beloved Charter to strike down the ones they don’t.
Fortunately, my commitment to my readers was rescued at least in part, by Ian Mulgrew, the only one in this city who cares less about victims than most provincial judges. Mulgrew came out swinging and called Chief Chu a “mischief-maker” for daring to suggest jailing those with lengthy criminal records who continue to commit crime on a daily basis. With the arrogance of the Left he opines “I thought we long ago decided spending $55,000-plus to house a junkie in prison was a dumb use of tax money” and that “jailing them has proved to be an expensive failure”. Well, no, Mulgrew, that decision was made by Trudeau and the other liberals you so idolize and it was that policy rather than jail that has proven a failure. Treatment is great and I fully support it but it only works when they want it and as far as I’m concerned, when they’re committing crimes they don’t get to make that choice. While jail might not be the perfect solution, it works. It works because every day one of these chronic offenders is inside at least 15 or 20 people will be spared the trauma of being a victim.
Echoing Mulgrew (and some judges), one of the city’s worst criminals wondered on TV news what all the fuss was about. After all, he said, he just commits ‘harmless crimes’ like breaking into stores, etc. Anyone who’s ever been a victim would likely disagree with his characterization not to mention his sense of entitlement. They shouldn’t, however, be surprised. He learned it from our politicians, judges, and columnists.
On a different note, kudos to the Federal Government for reversing a previous Liberal policy and restoring the pay for RCMP Cadets during their training at Depot. The Liberals spent decades trying to ruin the RCMP and our once-proud military but of all their decisions this was the most idiotic. Lets see, we’ll take a bunch of people, some with families to support, and sequester them for 6 months under the stress of intensive training, while their debts pile up. We won’t pay them. Matter of fact, we’ll charge them for boot polish. Then we’ll dump them in Metro Vancouver with the highest cost of living in the country. Then we’ll sit around and wonder why they had to set up an Anti-Corruption unit in ‘E’ Division.
Almost as bad is the provincial Liberal policy of requiring city police recruits to pay for their own training. Then they took the savings and gave themselves an exorbitant raise after tearing up signed union contracts and restricting public sector bargaining. As anyone who knows me will tell you, I’m no socialist but I have this old saying about politicians that involves where I’d rather see my sister than my brother.
The only real difference between most of them and Mulgrew’s friend on the news is a clean shirt and a shave.