OFFICERS 'FRUSTRATED' BY DEALERS

An Officer Tells Hearing A Level Of Frustration Led To Police Tactics

VANCOUVER - One of the Vancouver police officers disciplined for taking
three Granville Street drug dealers to Stanley Park and beating them vented
his frustration with the justice system and career street criminals Tuesday
during a police complaints hearing in Vancouver.

Under examination by Dana Urban, counsel for the Office of the Police
Complaints Commissioner, Const. Ray Gardner said he didn't believe anything
he did would change the behaviour of the drug dealers.

However, he said could at least temporarily remove them from the Granville
Street area by a process called breaching -- taking them to an area from
which it would take them time to return by foot.

"I think there was a level of frustration, and that just grew the more I
saw the damage caused in the community, and the more the community told me
about their issues," he said. " I felt I had a job to help the good
citizens of that area, and it was frustrating."

He said he does not believe the justice system works effectively with
people like the three drug dealers police assaulted in the park on the
night of Jan. 14, 2003.

"It appeared to me that it didn't appear to be working on individuals like
Grant Wilson [one of the three]," Gardener said.

Gardener told Urban he did not make any notes about the breaching of the
three dealers in an overnight log for the use of police on the next shift
because it was "a simple breach with people we deal with all the time."

When Urban suggested Gardner should have alerted the next shift that the
three might be in a mood for revenge against police, Gardner responded:
"With all due respect, welcome to the Vancouver police -- that's what it's
like.

"There's a lot of people out there that don't like us, and if I was going
to tell every officer about a person I've dealt with who may be hostile, it
would just bring the system to a halt.

"If we find a gun on them, absolutely, it will go in the book. If they
pulled a knife and came at a police officer it would go in the book.
Everything else like that for a police officer working in Vancouver is just
standard course of business, and for us to detail everything about somebody
that may be aggressive toward us, it would just jam up the system."

The six officers pleaded guilty to three counts each of assault in the
beatings and two of them, Gabriel Kojima and Duncan Gemmell, were
recommended to be fired by VPD Chief Jamie Graham.

They are currently suspended without pay, and are fighting to be reinstated
through the hearing.