ATTORNEY General

on a CKNW talk show
this week talking tough
about controlling spi-
ralling crime numbers
and at the same time
: weaseling about “condi-
[eeeeeeee tional sentences” and
i a2 “non-violent offenders”
and alternatives to jail.

Personally, I’m sick of the

. ¢rap coming out of Dosanjh’s

meee =6omouth about how cough hic is
rue going to be on crime. The
VF real reason crime numbers are

N rising is quite simple. Those
who commit crimes are, in all
probability, not going to face
a any consequences for their
a acts.

- Let me give you an exam-
Geemeeemee = “pie. Last Wednesday, 2 North
peewee. Van Mountie was on patrol

fee late at night when he
me | observed a vehicle with
meee Alberta plates speed past him.
aon... The young Constable
me. went after the car. When the
maen.. driver, a 40-year-old man,
may. noticed the policeman on his
’ tail, he promptly bailed out
waa 2nd ficd on foot. The officer
on had no idea what he was deal-
- Pee ing with. He called in the sit-
hae uation and requested assis-
*. tance. In the interim, he
i. looked in the dumped vehicle.
- ». The Keys were sti in the igni-
; aa tion. He noticed fresh vomit
‘eee on the front floor. In the
eae © back, he observed a container
. fee. fall of new and expensive
camera <guipment.
eeeweees Fe still had no idea what
meee © he was dealing with. A check
.- Of the registered owner of the
“. vehicle determined there was
- a Canada-wide warrant out-

break-in had occurred and
, -Aumerous pieces of camera
» equipment were missing.
-.+ The Mounties, being good

_. two together. A dog was

Ujjal Dosanjh appeared |

Some questions are tougher than
others. We don’t pretend to have
all the answers. But we have

nerth shore news

crime and
punishment

called. The degmaster and his
charge tracked straight from

- the dumped vehicle to a cow-

ering butthead with 20 years
of criminal history.

The butthead, who for the
purposes of this column, shall
remain nameless, lives in
Langley. He is a junkie who
feeds his habit by stealing
from me and thee. It’s a
strange occupation, but suf-
fice to say he’s got lots of
experience.

“Butthead” didn’t admit
to breaking into the camera
shop, but did admit to dump-
ing the car. He says the vomit
was because he was in dire
need of a fix.

He was arrested and
lodged in RCMP cells after
the camera equipment in the
car was identified as having
been taken from Kerrisdale
cameras. The police recom-
mended charges of B&E and

ion of stolen property
against the butthead. Tiey
then set about compiling the
list of charges and convictions
accrued by butihead over the
past 20 or so years sitice he
gan his career as a crook.
You see, the police actually

_ thought that the butthead

displayed very suspicious
behavor by running away
from a vehicle associated to a
wanted person. Keys were left

n’t have done that. According
to Crown counsel, the officer
didn’t go get a warrant to

. szarch the car before locating
‘at arithmetic, put two and the camera gear. A process, by
the way, which would have

VI

taken several hours ro com-
plete.

There is certainly no legal
precedent for obtaining a
warrant in circumstances
resulting from a fresh pursuit.
Any jurist who concluded
such an asinine thing should
be placed gently in a rubber
room and relieved of anything
sharp.

Here is just another situa-
tion where a Crown counsel
is seeking to adhere to the
attorney general’s instructions
to cut trial costs by not hear!
approving charges that clearly
should be hid. ,

There is no reason in the
world backing up the specious
argument presented to the
police by this Crown counsei
not to proceed with this
charge.

Simply put, if Crown is

rmiaiibox

EWPOINT
Tough talk, no action on crime

trying to make new law, it is
incumbent upon it to place
the matter before a judge. It
is not Crown’s mandate to
attempt to interpret existing
law. Butthead was ordered
released from jail and presum-
ably, the experience didn’t
inconvenience him too much.
At least the camera gear was
returned to its rightful owner,
no thanks to Crown counsel,
which scems to have forgot-
ten its first responsibility is to
act as advocate for us, the
public, not its political mas-
ters.

In reality, there’s no place
to put criminals in custody.
The NDP have so badly mis-
managed the province’s
finances, they can’t afford to
put up a tat paper shack to
house people who have
demonstrated time and again

they cannot function in soci-
ety without stealing, robbing,
defrauding and whatever else
they can do to get money
without actually earning it
iegitimately.

All we get from the politi-
cians is crap about “condi-
tional! sentences” and “non-
violent” offenders. It certainly
appears their only reality is to
provide enough plausible lies
to allow themselves ro stand a
chance at re-election.

Perish the thought.

— lknight@direct.ca

— The North Shore News
believes strongly in freedom of
speech and the rigitt of all sides
in a debate to be heard. The
columnists published in the
News present differing points
of view, but those views are not
necessarily those of the newspa-
per itself.

Let private sector build NV rink

eee

Dear Editor:

As a district resident, taxpayer, minor hockey
coach and part of a proposal team for the
Windridge ice arena, I write to take issuc with
Kirk Costello of the North Shore Adult Hockey
Association in what is obviously a request to
council to have taxpayers subsidize adult reere-
ational hockey players.

If North Vancouver District council accepts
the Costello arguments outlined in your Oct. 12
report “Players push public ownership,” then
either no new ice facility is likely to be built or
the taxpayers are going to be carrying an extra
burden for adults who should be paying their
own way.

The district’s taxpayers have already demon-
strated that they’re not in the mood to add to
their burden to finance the cost of building a

would be defeated and we will be years away
again from making it happen.

If the heritage fund is tapped for the capital,
the municipal taxpayer will be subsidizing ice
users on two counts, indirectly in terms of lost
opportunity from the fund’s carnings, and
directly in underwriting capital costs. :

Just as the new arena finally appears to be on
track, this new obstacle is planted to ensure:
another season of 6:45 a.m. practices in Burnaby
for North Van Minor Hockey.

I can understand municipal government sup-
porting ice time for kids. Mr. Costello is talking,
about adult recreational hockey and demanding
taxpayer subsidy. Mayor Don Bell and council
should tell him that’s not on. Council should
conclude its evaluation of proposals requested,
negotiate the best possible deal with private sec-

~; standing for the owner, a in the vehicle and there was new ice rink. If council goes to another referen- tor partners and get on with the project.
im. female with an Aiberta fresh vomit on the floor. The dum, at best it wil! mean a significant delay in Ri Bolus Part of the Provincial
“address. officer thought, given the cir- _ getting a new facility. At worst, the referendum North Vancouver Road Safety Program.
At the same time, other cumstances, he should proba-
“ members were dealing with bly investigate further. it was
. an alarm at Kerrisdale then he located the camera
Cameras on Lonsdale. The gear. .
attending police determined a Weil, evidently, he should-

Aesthetic

Laser Skin
Resurfacing

Friday, October 31, 1997 — North Shore News — 7

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