Friday, August 24, 2012
ANOTHER VICTORY (Pyrric?) FOR DAVIN CHARNEY
Most of the cases I've read about over the last few years regarding unlawful arrest and detainment have been pretty much black and white. This one however, published in today's Waterloo Region Record has considerably more grey in it. The article is titled "Judge finds local police at fault for unlawful arrests of two activists". On appeal a judge sided with Mr. Charney and his friend whereas the first judge, in small claims court, did not. I call this a pyrric victory in that a $500 award for being legally right won't come close to paying the legal bills.
There have been much stronger cases in which the Waterloo Regional Police have exceeded their lawful authority. This is why I am such a fan of Mr. Charney. Almost singlehandedly he has made our local police accountable for their illegal actions. There are a few other lawyers who have stepped up and done good work including Hal Mattson and Wayne Rabley over the years. Tellingly, "Insp. Kevin Thaler, a spokesperson for police, said the decision will be reviewed to determine if changes are required to training, policies or procedures.". The answer is a resounding and obvious YES! It is not illegal for citizens, on foot versus in a car, to refuse to identify themselves or to answer questions from police. This behaviour on its' own, absolutely is not grounds for police to arrest or detain citizens. It's long overdue for Regional Police to smarten up and obey the laws they are sworn to uphold.
To me a far more egregious case of unlawful arrest occurred on Ahrens St. in Kitchener, two years ago. A Waterloo Regional police officer forcefully stopped a gentleman walking on the sidewalk and demanded identification and answers from him. The gentleman refused to oblige or obey and was arrested, stripsearched and held overnight. This was neither the first or last time that our local police took it upon themselves to usurp their authority. They seem to have way too much attitude and ego and resent citizens pointing out exactly where their authority ends. Here is the link to that Waterloo Region Record story.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Wow! That's quite a disconcerting comment. I don't believe that I've ever heard this gentleman's name before which doesn't necessarily indicate anything one way or the other. I have a serious concern about the mentioning of a specific officer's name especially after I googled it and the name appears to indeed be of a local officer. While I believe in freedom of speech generally, this naming of a specific officer and alleging a criminal act by him doesn't sit well with me. If I had first hand knowledge of a criminal act by a police officer I might very well post it on my blog/website, but I do not. Therefore I'm going to attempt to leave Mr. Thornton's comment in but delete the name of the specific officer. Here goes.
ReplyDeleteWell I sure messed that up royally! Firstly my apologies to Mr. Thornton who had commented here. While I found your entire comment riveting and shocking and certainly relevant to my criticisms of the Waterloo Regional Police, nevertheless I did need to remove the name of a specific officer whom you had mentioned. That being said it is not up to me to arbitrarily and without really good cause to Delete an entire comment. For that I apologize and if in future you wish to comment without naming a particular, specific individual and alleging criminal behaviour, that will be appreciated.
ReplyDelete