Futility marks fight agains LAST week a court in Toronto heard the first of the details in the case against the nro accused kiNers of Detective Constable William Hancox, the Metro Toronto police officer slain in August. Hancox was working a plainciothes surveillance operation on active burglars, He stapped for a pop ata convenience store when he ran inte a situation he was unprepared tor. He paid with his life. What happened on that night remains unclear. Whar did become clear in the Toronto courtroom ts another blatant example of a justice system: gone mad. One of the nwo females accused of the crime, Mary Barbra Taylor, 20, has —- are you ready for it — 71 crimi- nal convictions in her adult lite. No that’s not a misprint. This amounts to roughly one conviction every two months since she turned 18. Needless to say this does- n’t include all those times she was arrested and not charged, or charges were dropped, stayed or otherwise plea bargained into judicial oblivion, No, these are just the convictions. No shrinking violet our Ms. Taylor either. The con- victions run the gamut from theft to extortion to armed robbery and virtually all stops in between. Bur she also had a long history of thumbing her nose at the courts. Twenty-one times she was convicted for breaching her probation or failing to appear in court. Her most recent convie- tion in 1996, number 71] for those keeping score, was for armed robbery. Her punish- ment for the offence was an 18-menth conditional sen- tence. ; crime and punishanent Apparently armed rob- berv fits inte the “non-svie- jent™ category our political masters keep saving is what the conditional sentences were designed for, The victiny in the armed robbery, by the way, was an SO- tor old woman. Favlor was told by the “What did become clear in the Toronto court- room is another blatant example of a justice system gone mad.” sentencing judge, Peter Hrvn of the Ontario Provineial Court, that she had io get addiction irear- ment in lieu of going to jail. Lest anyone be unclear on the facts before the suppos- edly learned judge, every part of Tavlor’s record was before him in the sentencing process. Hryn decreed she should attend a treatment facility called Homestead. Funnily cnough she never arrived there. She stopped off to vet some money for a fix appar- ently. In the process she beat a 70-vear-old man with his cane while he was standing in a queue to buy a newspa- per. She then disappeared into the sewer of Toronto's drug culture. When Taylor was finally brought back betore Judge Hiro. her faweer pleaded tar another chance. She reaily is qust.a hiitle misunderstood apparently. Ervin betught it and gave fer the sum: total of six months in jail and mere probation to go with the perpetual probation ten: derly guiding her tire since she first came in tront of the COUrTS, Evident FE chances werent quite cnough, When Detective Constable Hancox bexan the last shift of his lite, Tavlor and her lesbian fover, Elaine Rose Ceee, were together in a rundown area of Dundas Street in Poronto, an area where crack cocaine is as eas¥ to get as a pack of smokes. The streets and alleys in the area offer a veritable smorgasbord of illicit drugs. [rs denizens fix, steal, rob, then fix again ina vicious circle of depravity and crime. If some of this sounds familiar, it should. Last week's headlines were domi- nated by a sweep done on the downtown eastside and in New Westminster by police arresting crack deal- crs. Over 70 arrest warrants were issued for the dealers, mostly Honduran refugee claimants. The warrants, bv the way, had to be executed in the daytime lest the police incur any overtime cleaning up the streets. You see, the death of Detective Constable Hancox only serves to underline the epidemic of crime created by the highly profirabte illicit drug market and the soft approach taken by the courts in dealing with those who choose to follow the lure of the culture. We can’t ignore what is going on in our streets. For years we have been spoon- fed the bovine seatology from our political betters who say jail is not the answer, Everything is designed to give these peo- pic another Chame. And anothe sr And another. And another. We in Canada, and Vancouver a particular, an international repatanon as being asett touch tor crmmnals. And why net? We are, Most of the Honduran erack dealers picked up be the police last week were recruited and sent here to deal by organized crime ele ments. They know this is a cheap, easy and effective way to market their incipient death, We welcome these people here, give them welfare and all sorts of benefits paid for by the hard working legiti- mate citizens of Canada. When they fall atoul of the hw, we don't toss them oul for spitting in our faces. We give them legal aid to take another kick at our col- lective genitals. Some of those arrested Jast week had already been through the system in Porthind, Oregon. After they were arrested there, they served their sen- tences and were promptly kicked from the country. The U.S., a signatory to the same UN agreements as Canada to deal with the worlds refugees, doesn't ree- ognize Honduras as a state in such difficulty their citi- zenry need to flee to safety. Never mind Honduras, in Canada, we even accept refugee claimants from those same United States. Most of those arrested last week were on the streets again before the ink was drv on the police reports. Drug trafficking carries 2 maximum penalty of 14 vears in jail, PN be surprised if any of those arrested see much more than a small fine for their trouble. The cvele continues unabated despite Heart Attack, Stroke or | Cancer Insurance § plus full financial services § please coll Maduro Planners f John Madura at 926-5066 i cri have Wednesday. October 21. 1998 ~ North Snore News ~ 7 the nile fight by the patice. kor Detective Constable Hlancos the thts over. For Mary Barbra Laver. if con vinted, the T2nd comuicuen will be her Last. bor the Hancoy fanuly, there are onty icars. For che rest of us, we shake our heads atthe tuglity of it all. I wonder how fudge Hrvn is teeling. — lhatetee direct.ca Hair Stylists Found! 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