“The judicial system has completely abrogated its responsibility. ”’ ~~ West Vancouver police officer. THE ABOVE statement may be going a bit far. But it reflects the frustration of policemen who spend months on a case, only to see a guilty party go free because of some technicality. Or because of some new quirk deriving from the Charter of Rights. The other side of the coin, of course, is that we don’t want a police state, and letting | the guilty go free is part of the price we pay for not having one. But the situa- tion is getting out of hand. These thoughts result from my havirig gone back to the police beat for a while after a trio of lit- ue darlings broke into our under- ground garage and stole a car. I was curious about what they were like, and interested in what would happen to them. They were a bunch of incorrigi- ble misfits and had stclen a number of cars, not just one. And nothing much happened to them. Two got probation and the third went to a ‘“‘youth resources facility’® for six months. But she was said to be uncontrollable. When I reported these results to my police contact, he laughed. Such sentences (or ‘‘disposi- tions’’ as the Young Offenders Act jargon delicately puts it), are part of the new look of today’s system. Punishment is out, rehabilitation in. And crime pros- Se Statistics Canada says that vio- lent youth crimes are up by over a third from five years ago. And the more serious the offence, the less - fikely it is that a juvenile will be found guilty. ” Nearly half of convicted juve- niles are repeaters, and many first-offenders are not taken to court. Even second, third and Doug Collins ON THE OTHER HAND fourth-time offenders usually get probation. Or more conditions are put on their original probation orders. ‘*What we are doing is to teach them how to beat the system at an early age,”’ says North Van's Noreen Provost of Citizens United for Safety and Sustice. As for adult courts, there have been instances, I was told, where criminals who have committed 10 to 15 crimes a day have not received long sentences. One result of today’s approach is that automobile thefts are sky- rocketing. Last year there were 148 cases in West Vancouver compared with 102 for 1990 — an increase of 45%. There can be some strange con- trasts in the courts. In West Van, one person got a $50 fine for shoplifting. On the same day, in the saine court, another person got a $150 fine for breaking the dog bylaws. Breaking and entering was once seen as a serious crime. No longer. “The maximum penalty (life) is just a joke,”’ said a policeman. **Adults seldom get more than three to six months, and kids just get a talking to.”’ One guy who was living from theft, he went on, got a suspended sentence. Then there was the West Van- case in which a man had burgled 350 homes in a five-year period. He was actually doing jobs be- tween court appearances. He got three years, which prob- ably boiled down to two or less, thanks to sentences not really be- ing sentences any longer. It took eight to 10 policemen 12 months to catch him, and the police thought he should have got at least seven years. Where young offenders are concerned, | was told, judges re- fuse to accept statements they may have made to police. “They can spill the beans com- pletely, it makes no difference.”’ And most kids are not worried about going to court. Why should they be when it’s so difficult to get an order to keep them in close custody? Another reason for police cynicism is that thanks to the Charter of Rights, the iaw keeps changing in the offenders’ favor. It may be one thing when a crime was committed, and another by the time the offender gets to Meeting will address school crowding A PUBLIC meeting concerning overcrowding at North Vancouver School District 44’s Dorothy Lynas Elementary School, 4000 Inlet Cres., will be held tomorrow at 7:30 p.m. inthe school’s gym. ‘ The Dorothy: Lynas School ‘Association, a parents’ advisory group, is sponsoring the meeting, which will focus on concerns about inadequate education facili- ties for the Indian River area. “Everyone in the community needs to know about the situa- tion,’ said Brenda Jorgensen, Dorothy Lynas parents’ associa- __ tion spokesman. ‘“‘We want people “!to be aware of the numbers and BU r By Anna Marie D’Angelo News Reporter know what we are facing.”’ Speakers et tomorrow’s meeting will include District 44 trustee Don Bell, District 44 assistant su- - perintendent Pat Bell and Dorothy Lynas Elementary parents’ group © spokesman Greg Staple. A survey conducted in November indicated the numbers of new children entering the school will far exceed the numbers graduating within the next five years. The figures do not take into account new housing development in the Indian River area. Other area schools, Sherwood Park and Cove Cliff elementary, are also at capacity. Dorothy Lynas opened in 1990 and was immediately filled to ca- pacity. This school. year, the 400-pupil school has more than 500 students enrolled and five portable classrooms on its site. OF * A LIFETIME 2.9% FINANCE OR UP TO $1000 CASH Bi CK: ON SELECTED UNITS sOuTH ON SECOND ARROWS RIDGE AND. 20 MINUTES EAST ON HASTINGS, EAGLE RIDGE PONTIAC buick GMC. Wednesday, February 19, 1992 — North Shore News - 9 Where is the justice in judicial system? court. Which is why 55% of im- paired driving cases have been defeated. As for youth courts, a glance at the **Highlights to the Young Of- fenders Act’’ is instructive. 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