Prime Time Crime

By Bob Cooper

When I wrote An Insult in 2014 I knew it wasn’t over because it never is with these people.  When the Transit Police knuckled under the following year - Concept of Duty - I knew it was only a matter of time.

When I started getting e-mails from friends last night with this New VPD guidelines aim to facilitate access to police services for undocumented immigrants attached my first reaction was surprise that it took this long.  After reading the guidelines carefully my second reaction was that it could have been a lot worse.  For any of my readers who didn’t get this from the first 2 columns let me be very clear.  While I understand and support the need for civilian oversight of law enforcement I have always opposed political interference in day to day operations.  It’s currently destroying some of America’s greatest cities and my home state of California.  Make no mistake.  This is interference and it is most certainly political.

Fortunately for us all, it seems the Executive of the VPD made the best of a bad situation and managed to inject some common sense into these guidelines.  Common sense is attributed by default because the Open Borders crowd have none.  Members are directed not to ask complainants, victims, or witnesses about their immigration status unless there is reason to do so and gives some good examples.  It goes on to say that none of the foregoing applies to suspects which is key and sets this policy apart from the Sanctuary lunacy that so many U.S. police departments are operating under.

Most importantly the guidelines acknowledge the primary role of the police in ensuring public safety, pledges continued cooperation with CBSA, and include the following words:  “Any direction the VPD provides to its members, in an attempt to support the “spirit and objectives” of the CoV’s ACSWF policy, must not undermine the lawful authorities and obligations of VPD members.”

It may come as a surprise to some but this is pretty much the way things have worked, as the kids say, ‘like forever’.  When I worked in the Asian Squad in the 80s we didn’t ask victims, witnesses, or complainants about their immigration status for the same reason we didn’t ask them what their grandmother’s maiden name was or what kind of flooring they had in their kitchen.   It had nothing to do with the case and we had enough trouble just getting the details of the crime out of them.   With suspects, on the other hand, if we didn’t know them it was the next question after their name and date of birth and we removed some very dangerous people from Canada after stumbling across them in routine investigations or stopping them on the street which, unlike our brethren in Toronto, we’re still allowed to do.  For the moment: The Numbers Game. 

Like I said, it could have been a lot worse and, as compromises go, the VPD can live with it because in a practical sense, it changes very little.  The danger is that it’s a foot in the door.  I know the Chief is well aware of this but the need for vigilance bears repeating to others.   The Left don’t believe in compromise which they view as a temporary setback.  They take an ‘all or nothing’ approach and will keep chipping away until they’ve achieved total victory.  And we become San Francisco.

Bob Cooper is a retired Vancouver policeman.  He walked a beat in Chinatown and later worked in the Asian Organized Crime Section and the Homicide Squad.