POLICE NOT HELD ACCOUNTABLE

Editor:

On Wednesday, June 12, a public meeting was held at Langley Secondary
School on a proposed bylaw that would unfairly target tenants as potential
criminals and oblige landlords to act as police officers. The bylaw, if
Langley City Council approves it, would see landlords responsible for the
cost of city inspectors and any damage done to their home if it is busted
as a grow-op or other drug operation. The by-law essentially allows a
renter's home to be searched without a proper search warrant.

Not every landlord wants to be in a position of having to do regular
inspections of their tenant's homes to look for drugs. We have a police
force so that the average citizen doesn't need to be put into that situation.

Nor is it fair that every tenant be subject to regular inspections simply
because they are renting. One man who attended the meeting pointed out that
he thought people in this country were innocent until proven guilty, and as
a landlord he did not want to be forced to treat his tenants as potential
crack dealers.

On the surface, the bylaw looks like a good initiative to protect the
health and safety of landlords and tenants alike. Unfortunately, after
attending this public meeting, it's apparent that there is a hidden agenda.

Recently there has been lots of media attention around the fact that police
officers often bust up a house more than is necessary when doing a raid.
They have little accountability for this now, and would have even less
under this bylaw. The bylaw places the responsibility for damage on the
landlord and holds a landlord accountable for his or her tenant's actions.
This is not a good situation for either tenants or landlords.

If the City of Langley were really concerned with health and safety,
councillors would pass a standards of maintenance bylaw similar to the one
that exists in Vancouver. Such a bylaw would set guidelines ensuring that
buildings are kept in good repair and allow city inspectors to enforce
those guidelines.

However, that is clearly not what this bylaw is about. It's about giving
the police more power and less accountability. Landlords and tenants alike
should strongly oppose the bylaw as it stands now.

Kris Anderson and Linda Mix,

Tenants Rights Action Coalition,

Vancouver