B.C. Gang Wars Forum

The RCMP have launched a Gang Watch Forum at: http://www.justiceinourtimes.ca

Unfortunately there is no forum on it and despite reaching out to credible people for their input I just get the feeling that there is the same old underlining propaganda rationalizing the Judicial complacency in BC. This is where I break ranks with the establishment and stand in support of Jim Chu from the VPD.

I completely agree that politicians need to take more heat and be more accountable for passing law an order legislation. I do take issue with politicians exploiting our misfortune and using it as a platform to promote themselves and their political party instead of laying party politics aside and doing what is in the country’s best interest.

Nevertheless, I take great offense to the extent of the propaganda passion rationalizing the Judicial screw ups we see on an ongoing basis in BC. My beef starts with the lawyers. Lawyers are by nature arrogant. They refer to each other as “My learned Friend”. If you don’t have a law degree you’re not a learned friend, you are in essence a civilian.

Lawyers see themselves in a different class from the rest of the world and if you don’t have a law degree you don’t understand the courts. Period. It’s compounded by the fact that judges were at one point lawyers. I had one person ask me how is it that a crooked lawyer becomes an honest judge? Is there some kind of epiphany that takes place? Not likely.

The perfect example of this credibility gap was Wally Oppal. He was a former judge and the Attorney General who went to a great deal of effort convincing the public that our judges were fine. He was not reelected and I was not the only one that felt his defeat was related to his stand on the judges.

One page I saw on that RCMP Gang Wars site was the goal to make hearings public so the public can understand why some decisions are made. That is offensive. Here we have the propaganda doctor restating the lawyers misconception that they know everything and the public knows nothing. This is the founding premise of most dictatorships.

It’s not about the charter. The charter of rights is a good thing. It’s about bad judges who are either scared, inept or corrupt. If they are scared I can understand that. Let’s spend more money on protecting our judges and less money on protecting the Bacon brothers.

Nevertheless, defending the charter has nothing to do with throwing out evidence that was acquired after a search warrant was acquired. It has nothing to do with throwing out evidence because the police didn’t knock on the back door after they knocked on the front door to execute a search warrant. The list is long and shameful but we do have a problem with bad judges in BC and if that puts me on a black list for exercising my charter right to say that then so be it.

When the line in the sand is drawn and the masses lobby to rationalize judicial incompetence I will stand on the other side of that line and support people like the mother of Michael Levy who said “I’d like to slap that judge’s face.”

Regional Police force

In dealing with gang violence there has been debate about the formation of a Regional Police Force since criminals move between police jurisdictions. That certainly makes sense. In fact criminals also move between regions so why not consider a National Police force?

Yeah that’s the ticket. In keeping with the historical framework of Canadian heritage let’s call it the Royal Canadian Mountain Police. Oh right, we already have a national police force.

The debate is contentious since no one wants to give up power. City police are unionized, the RCMP is not. That’s just one factor. I do see benefits in letting police officers from one city being permitted to transfer to another city to avoid burnout. People can only patrol East Van for so long before getting discouraged and frustrated. Yet it’s all problematic.

We need cooperation between the forces and public accountability. We have seen petty politics rise in dealing with investigations that cross policing boundaries. We need to rise above this. We also need to maintain or improve public accountability. I’m still very concerned with RCMP official Richard Barszczewski stopping charges against the Hells Angels from proceeding in Canada.

I’m told the new Solicitor General is an advocate for a Regional Police force. Although problematic it is possible. However, criminals also cross national boundaries and there is no need to merge our police force with other countries. We simply need to cooperate with them.

Likewise, there is no reason city police forces cannot cooperate with each other in the formation of a Regional Gang Task Force like the B.E.U. in Ontario. Creating a Regional Police force will not address the judicial Reform we need in BC where the federal laws are administered differently here than they are in other provinces nor would it force the judges in BC to recognize criminal organization legislation. Talk is indeed cheap and actions still speak louder than words.

The RCMP Taser Inquiry

The RCMP have taken a lot of bad press over the taser incident at the airport resulting in the death of Robert Dziekanski. I'd like to make a few observations. It would appear to be pretty obvious the police screwed up. They made a mistake. Compounding that mistake with conflicting statements in court having the appearance of perjury doesn't help.

The latest scandal involves an e-mail that states they talked about using a taser on him before they arrived at the scene. Personally I don't see that as a scandal. The police get a call about a guy freaking out disturbing the peace. On the way they discuss the situation and say if the guy gets out of hand we'll taser him. That is not a conspiracy. That is perfectly logical. What makes it problematic is that it contradicted previous testimony.

Regardless, let's try and look at the situation objectively. Obviously it was a tragedy. The RCMP did not want to kill him. The fact that his life was lost is without question a tragedy. However, let's look at the facts. We're at an airport. A call has been made about someone freaking out and causing a disturbance.

In this video he is seen as very calm yet very agitated. You can see him pant as though there had just been an episode. In the background you can hear a witness declare he almost tried to throw a chair threw a window.
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This is an airport. After 911 there is heightened security fears over any kind of disturbance. The background of the situation is indeed tragic. He didn't speak English. He was on his first plane flight and was waiting for his mother to meet him at the airport. She told him to wait in the baggage area but she wasn't permitted in the baggage area. She was told he didn't show up and left. He had been waiting 10 hours and got scared.

Not having a translator was the ultimate tragedy. This is an airport. People from countries all over the world coming and going regularly. Some attempt at finding a translator during those ten hours of waiting should have been made. A similar scene was portrayed in the movie The Terminal with a much happier ending.

This news video is the actual taser incident. He wasn't even armed with a stapler as erroneously claimed in court. Upon arrival the news report claims one officer said may I taser him and another said yes. They speak to him, he shrugs and takes a few steps away and they surround him. They didn't have to taser him at that point. Yet tasering him at that point was not in my opinion misconduct. I believe they should have taken him down without tasering him and handcuff him.

Yes they could have spent some time on conflict resolution and talk to him. Yes they should have waited for an interpreter but they could have done that after he was cuffed and sitting down not posing a threat to any person or property.

To me the problem rises in the type of tasers used. I was under the impression the type of tasers used were like the ones on the plane in the movie Anger Management. One of those one shot cattle prong devices. However, this video shows the type of tasers being used in Canada. It's a video of a nudist at a public gathering. He was in no way being violent. There were several police officers present who could have taken him down and cuffed him without tasering him.

Personally I think the taser is over used in our electronic society. Hitting someone in the fleshy part of the leg or arm with a nightstick is much more humane and effective. Nevertheless, this video shows that the taser used fires an electrode into the body at which point the voltage is turned up on a dial and the victim basically has a seizure. If you fast forward the video to the taser incident at the end you will see them fire the electrode into the person and crank the electricity through his body.

As he is having a seizure doing the fish out of water they shout at him to roll over. He is physically unable to do so with that much electricity running through his body. They take that as noncompliance and all dive on him while the guy with the taser keeps tasering him over and over again in the chest. That was insane and a complete misuse of the device. Those officers were way more negligent that in the airport incident and were lucky that person didn't die.

I have personally come to the conclusion that tasers should be banned. Especially the type that fires and electrode into the body. Anyone who knows anything about shock treatment in the old mental institutions can attest to the fact that these type of tasers should not be used. My Airport Taser inquiry conclusion: Discipline in this case is not warranted but a province wide ban on the use of tasers is which I understand has been proposed and considered.

Swarming

One of my pet peeves is swarming. No one fights one on one any more. They’ll swarm a guy, pepper spray him and then stab him and give him the boots. In the Michael Levy case they hit him three times in the back of the head with an axe. That is absolutely deranged. There is certainly no honour or manhood involved in that.

Ganging up on someone, using weapons and kicking him when he’s on the ground is senseless, cheap and dirty. Not something that someone wants to brag about. If people find out you swarmed someone then you will likely get swarmed.

One of the good things about all these shootings is that it tends to reduce the swarmings. If a gang of bullies is going to swarm someone they’ll think twice if they think that guy might pull out a gun and blow their head off. Yet in reality, all the gang violence is directly related to swarming.

Someone with small man syndrome joins a gang to become a bully. Nothing more nothing less. "Don’t mess with me, I’m with the Hells Angels." However nowadays that simply means shoot me I'm a deranged crack dealer. Yet the swarming intent still exists within the gang mentality.

If we can’t beat you we will outnumber you and or shoot you. At least with the gangs there is a motive. Selling drugs to make money. With swarming it’s absolutely senseless violence yet neither have any honour. They’re just bullies no matter how you rationalize it and no one likes a bully.

Dave Pickton and the Hells Angels

Speaking of conspiracies, personally I find it very hard to believe Robert Pickton was the master mind behind eluding police and hiding the bodies in all those women killed on the family pig farm. I find it very hard to believe that his brother Dave who was previously convicted of sexual assault on that same farm was not aware of what was going on. If Dave was in charge of the farm how could Robert kill, mutilate and bury all those women on the farm without Dave knowing about it?

Dave Pickton, Robert Pickton's younger brother was convicted of sexual assault on the pig farm in 1992. In 1999, a woman alleged she was violently assaulted by Dave Pickton in his home. The unidentified woman alleged he bound her limbs to the bed using bungee cords and tried to shove pills in her mouth. Sgt. Dan Almas said he was aware of that allegation, and agreed that pills and bungee cords were found in a search of the younger Pickton's bedroom but stated "Someone who is alleged to have committed a serious sexual assault does not a murderer make."

Police describe Robert Pickton as slow. A police officer testified that he had the impression that Robert was "mentally diminished" and Dave was both condescending to Robert and protective of him. Robert seemed to be submissive and deferred to his brother when asked a question, the jury heard. Robert and Dave Pickton operated Piggy Palace. Robert Pickton's initial response to the murder allegations was "Hogwash. I'm being set up." His "confession" was side by side with a fanciful story about how he lived in a chicken coupe when he was 2.

One police informant left town when bikers showed up at her house before the trial. Another witness said "[Dave] told me that if Willie was going to go down, then everyone else was going to go down," However, that same informant later denied in court telling police that he was scared of Dave Pickton because he socialized with the Hells Angels. Nevertheless, defense lawyer stated "I'm going to suggest to you that there was considerable association between Dave Pickton and the Hells Angels."

Personally, I do think Robert Pickton was involved but I do not believe he acted alone. There are a lot more than 26 woman murdered and missing.

Detox and Treatment

The Vancouver Province ran an interesting article about detox and treatment. It was well received.

The first three months off crack is detox. Then treatment starts. The Front Room is a drug house. You have to separate caring for the homeless and fostering addiction.

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You can’t go into treatment when everywhere you turn crack dealers are in your face crying "Crack?! Crack?! Wanna but some Crack?! Crack?! Crack?! Crack?!" Sounds like a bunch of pesky ducks. Time for some duck hunting.

Get the crack dealers off the street. Then lock a prolific offender in jail for three months for his crimes not for his addiction. Then order treatment to begin after three months of incarceration where they are not beaten or abused but do not have access to the drugs.

If a man is an alcoholic and beats his wife when he is drunk, family courts can and do order treatment in custody disputes. There is no reason this cannot happen in criminal court. Prevention, enforcement and treatment are the other three pillars the extremists refuse to talk about. Support the Welcome Home Society in Surrey.

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The war on drugs should not be directed at the addicts. It should be directed at the crack dealers and the cocaine importers. If you get caught selling crack you should do jail time. If you get caught importing cocaine to be sold as crack your should do jail time. Since the Hells Angels are a criminal organization and profit from these activities in our communities their clubhouses here should be seized.

Recalling Wally Oppal

It is worth remembering why Wally Oppal was recalled through the democratic process by not being re elected. Two readers wrote in to the Province stating that in their opinion it was because of his refusal to deal with the sad state of the judicial system and his denial that is was fine:

Oppal's ouster sends a clear message on justice failures

Fired for cause