WELL THE GOOD NEWS IS THAT THE WATERLOO REGIONAL POLICE WEREN"T AT FAULT IN BOTH CHARTER VIOLATIONS CASES

The Waterloo Region Record two days ago carried the following story titled "Two court cases fall apart due to charter violations by police". The one involving the Waterloo Regional Police concerned an impaired driver who failed a roadside sobriety test. he was not advised of his right to legal counsel immediately after his arrest. The second case involved the Ontario Provincial Police who also failed to advise an arrested citizen immediately of his right to counsel.

I am of two minds on these cases as to where the blame totally falls. Were the police officers incompetent and or were they given poor training? Finally should our courts have let both individuals walk hence compounding the police errors? I am a very strong advocate of individual's rights under the Charter and other legislation thus I might lean towards the original police errors as the over riding fault exhibited. It is unfortunate if there is no legal remedy possible to both address the police errors as well as the legal fault of the individuals arrested.

CLEANING UP THE MOUNTIES

Yesterday's Waterloo Region Record carried the following article titled "New RCMP boss faces a daunting task". The daunting task is cleaning out the died in the wool, deeply entrenched sexists and misogynists within the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Make no mistake they may be a little older and a little dumber, but they are still there.

In 2016 there was a settlement of two class action lawsuits against the RCMP. Those lawsuits had alleged "...a long history of harassment, intimidation and discrimination perpetrated by male members of the Mounties against female colleagues. The federal government agreed to set aside $100 million to pay victims and family members depending on the severity of each claim. Estimates are that 4,000 of the 20,000 women working for the RCMP might come forward with claims of harassment and discrimination. That money citizens and taxpayers could have been better spent over the decades fighting crime rather than the Mounties wasting their time and energy fighting women within their workforce. Big, dumb and stupid may may turn out to be the motto of multiple police forces across Canada. Don't forget it's our politicians, male and female, who have enabled this behaviour for decades.

IS THIS AN EXAMPLE OF HOW UNREASONABLE CHILDREN'S AID SOCIETIES ARE?

Yesterday's Waterloo Region Record carried the following story titled "Ruling an affirmation of the freedom of conscience, religion". It seems that a CAS social worker to exception to a foster couple's refusal to lie to their two foster girls by telling them that both santa Claus and the easter Bunny were real. Other than that minor setback the CAS were quite happy with the foster couple. CAS was not to be denied and with only one days notice removed the children from their foster parents. The judge for the Superior Court of Justice in Hamilton took the CAS to task. The judge even suggested that there appeared to be some animus on the part of the social worker who had gotten all twisted up over the foster parents refusal to jump at her ridiculous orders. I have read of other dubious removals of children from their natural parents in the past but this particular case really makes me wonder as to what is wrong with some people who get a little bit of authority.

HERE WE GO AGAIN - ANOTHER WATERLOO REGIONAL POLICE OFFICER CRIMINALLY CHARGED

I've only had this Blog going for about six years but I've lost count of the number of local officers charged with offences. It is becoming ridiculous. Some of the charges are internal Police Act charges which are bizarre in their own right as per Kelly Donovan's book titled " Systemic Misfeasance in Ontario Policing and the Coordinated Suppression of Whistleblowers". Other charges are criminal charges and it seems that a favourite may very well be sexual offences against women. Seems more than a tad incongruous.

The Waterloo Region Record published yesterday the following story titled "Officer facing sex assault charge". The charge relates to an incident at an Octoberfest festhall last fall. Constable Eric Schnarr has been charged with sexual assault by the provinces Special Investigations Unit (SIU). The incident allegedly took place last October 14/17 at the Concordia Club on Ottawa St. in Kitchener. There was a separate incident the previous month involving another Waterloo Regional Police officer which also resulted in a charge of sexual assault.

I'm slowly becoming numb with the allegations of wrong doing by our local police force. Whatever the outcome of these charges and allegations I hope that the media will as promptly as possible bring them to the public's attention.

MEDIA HEADLINE SOMEWHAT DECEIVING

The headline I'm referring to is from the Waterloo Region Record two days ago. It's title was "Ontario has "most improved" justice system. The sub-title was "Canada has a whole saw drop in crime rates, fewer police officers required per capita and rising support for legal aid". The problem is that the second annual justice system report card from the Macdonald-Laurier Institute is by no means that optimistic.

Yes Ontario has risen from seventh place in Canada to fourth place however the sub-title is even more deceptive in that the newspaper article about this report by Gordon Omand of the Hamilton Spectator states that the good news is "...overshadowed by an increase in costs, lengthier court delays and the persistent over-representation of Indigenous people in prison...".

There are also concerns and gaps regarding public confidence in both the justice system across Canada as well as a lack of public confidence in various police forces. generally speaking Manitoba comes off as particularly bad in a number of criteria.

Reforms are necessary according to the Macdonald-Laurier Institute "...to make our criminal justice system more efficient, fairer and better serve the needs of victims".

POLICE DISCRIMINATION & RACIAL PROFILING

Well firstly the good news. I'm not talking today about the Waterloo Regional Police. Today's posting is about the Thunder Bay police and is in regards to the following article in today's Waterloo Region Record titled "Police probe of Indigenous man's death ruled shoddy". Apparently a so called "investigation" took place after an indigenous man was found floating in a nearby river. The "investigation" lacked in several ways including no video, no photographs and no measurements of the scene. Other failures included police not contacting the person last known to be in contact with the victim. Police also didn't know that the victim's debit card was used after his death. Hmm that would be a clur for me that something could be amiss.

Quoting the chief (Robin McGinnis) of the Rainy River First Nation "The degree of incompetence and indifference to the lives of First Nations is mind-boggling". The provincial Office of the Independent Police Review Director (OPIRD) have stated "the deficiencies in the investigation ...support an allegation of neglect of duty".

It seems that police procedures and standards are somewhat elastic depending upon who died, the circumstances thereof and who may have done it. Clearly more oversight is needed of the investigations being done by police forces in Ontario. This is somewhat in line with the allegations of Kelly Donovan in regards to internal investigations done by our very own Waterloo Regional Police Service.