Editor:
Re: Drug arrest ‘unlawful’, Dec. 14.
I read a very disturbing article in the PAN.
After observing someone making multiple stops during a 45-minute period, Surrey RCMP pulled the vehicle over and arrested the driver with two counts of possession for the purpose of trafficking.
In the car they found money and a plethora of drugs, including methamphetamine, crack cocaine and powder cocaine.
The B.C. Supreme Court judge found that the police didn’t have reasonable grounds to arrest him and violated the accused’s Charter of Rights “to be free from arbitrary detention.” The driver was acquitted of all charges.
Interestingly, this is not the case for check stops where police have every right to stop vehicles and check for impaired drivers. It was upheld by the Supreme Court of Canada.
I pity the police who try to make this a safer world when they also have to deal with a justice system that appears to lean towards the criminal rather than the countless victims they are hurting.
We should and can do better!
Perhaps we need a new movement, similar to the Mothers Against Drunk Drivers, or the MADD movement. We could call it Dads Against Drug Dealers, or DADD.
Surely, all levels of government can now agree that this would be a positive step and perhaps even help in curbing the overdose epidemic.
S. Bergen-Henengouwen, White Rock