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RCMP Chief Says He Was Too Quick to Link Murders to Grow-Op

OTTAWA -- Canada's top police officer said Monday that he was too
quick to condemn a marijuana grow operation as the root cause in the
deaths of four Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers last week.

RCMP commissioner Guiliano Zaccardelli said in an interview that his
condemnation of grow-ops just hours after the shootings may have been
inappropriate because police and politicians did not have full details
of the particular case and the background of killer James Roszko.

Zaccardelli and Deputy Prime Minister Anne McLellan, his political
boss as the minister of public safety and emergency preparedness,
spoke of the scourge of marijuana grow operations within hours of the
killings and the need for tougher penalties for those who operate them.

"I gave what I believed was the best information I had, knowing full
well that at that time I didn't have all the information," a contrite
Zaccardelli said. "Clearly, there's a lot of things in there that, in
hindsight, we will have to look at in a different perspective."

Police in Mayerthorpe, Alta., first went to Roszko's home last
Wednesday with a court order to seize stolen auto parts. While there,
they discovered what a search warrant said were 20 marijuana plants.
They returned the next day -- the day of the killings -- with a
warrant to search for the drug outfit and seized 280 plants, $8,000
worth of growing equipment and a generator worth $30,000, the Edmonton
Journal reported.

In the days since the murders, it appears they were the work of an
unstable man with a long criminal history, but hardly that of a
gangster protecting his cash crop.

"None of these are simple issues. This requires some reflection and
discussion," Zaccardelli said. "Let's honour the memory of these four
fallen police officers and help their families get through it, and
then we need to carry on the debate after this."

Zaccardelli's comments followed statements in the House of Commons by
all four political parties commemorating the deaths of constables
Peter Schiemann, 25, Anthony Gordon, 28, Brock Myrol, 29, and Leo
Johnston, 32.

Opposition parties declined out of respect for the four dead officers
to use Monday's question period to probe the initial reactions of
Zaccardelli and McLellan.

Last Thursday night, McLellan said the officers "were killed in an
operation involving, as far as we know at this point, an illegal grow
operation."

She went on to speak of the great danger grow-ops pose to police
officers, their frequent links to organized crime, and the need for
stronger penalties for those who run them. All are positions she has
held consistently for a long time.

McLellan would not discuss Zaccardelli's comments Monday.

"The first thing that happened was that everybody acted based on a
lack of information," said Randy White, a tough-on-crime Conservative
MP from British Columbia. "Yeah, they did react, but based on
information they didn't have."

Prime Minister Paul Martin, McLellan and Zaccardelli will travel to
Edmonton Thursday for a national memorial service. Following that,
Zaccardelli said, he will be making a "more extensive" public
statement on the killings.

All four political parties spoke Monday in the House of Commons in
honour of the four dead officers.

McLellan, an MP from Edmonton Centre, southeast of where the killings
took place, said she was personally shaken by the incident because it
occurred in her home province.

There were hints that McLellan and the country's national police force
could come under heavy scrutiny in coming days.

"All Canadians are asking, why? Those answers will have to wait for
another day," said Jack Layton, the leader of the New Democratic Party.

"The time is coming to understand the implications of their deaths and
the public policy involved," said Conservative Leader Stephen Harper.

Politically, it appears the federal gun registry could bear the brunt
of the fallout in the days to come. Roszko had a long criminal record
and should not have had access to weapons.

A bill to reform laws governing use and cultivation of marijuana is
under parliamentary review. It would increase penalties for those who
grow the drug, but proposed decriminalizing possession of small amounts.