| Sun | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat |
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
| 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 |
| 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 |
| 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 |
| 29 | 30 | 31 |
|
| Police investigating police |
|
| Yes! |
|
| Martin Luther King Day |
|
| Rick Sugden; A lawyer and a gentleman |
|
In British Columbia, police still investigate themselves in cases where there may be suggestions of wrongdoing. Despite the obvious conflicts of interest inherent in such a system, our politicians have done nothing to address the problem. As a result, public confidence in the criminal justice system is waning and costs are rising.
Take the Robert Dziekanski case, for example. After the confused Polish immigrant arrived at Vancouver International Airport on October 13, 2007, he was confronted by four uniformed RCMP officers. He died moments later. In the initial stages of the RCMP investigation of the fatality, spokesperson Pierre Lemaitre misled the public about what had happened. When a citizen delivered a videotape of the incident to the RCMP investigators, they initially refused to return a copy to him. After he launched a lawsuit for its return, it finally became public:
The videotape clearly contradicted the RCMP's description of the incident and, to any objective observer, showed that one or more of the officers had used excessive force when they shocked Mr. Dziekanski with 50,000 volts of TASER electricity before attempting to reason with him.
The RCMP investigation of itself, and the ensuing deliberations by Crown Counsel as to whether any charges were warranted, lasted nearly a year. Predictably, no charges were laid.
To attempt to quell the public uproar over the shocking incident, a public inquiry was launched. One can only guess how much the inquiry will cost BC taxpayers, but it surely must be in the millions of dollars. At the second phase of the inquiry, which commenced Monday, no fewer than 23 lawyers were in attendance, most being paid from the public purse. If we conservatively estimate that their collective meters are running at $6,000 per hour, assume that the inquiry will last six months, add an equal number of hours for out of court preparation, well, you can do the math...
All this cost might have been avoided, and the criminal justice system and police would appear much more respectable, if the fatal incident had been investigated by an independent body with the authority to lay charges.
more>>
"I have a dream"; August 28, 1963
Sad news arrived recently with word that Richard Sugden, Q.C. died on January 5, 2009, four years after illness forced his premature retirement from the profession he loved. Although I didn't know him as well as I would have liked, Rick was always unfailingly polite and generous with his time whenever I encountered him in the precincts of the Law Courts. He was a rarity; a terrific lawyer who thrived in the cutthroat world of civil litigation, yet one who retained high levels of civility and courtesy that all of us should try to emulate. He will be sorely missed.
There will be a special memorial ceremony on Friday afternoon, January 16, 2009 at the Great Hall of the Vancouver Law Courts.
