Holes in Operation Pipeline?

A popular drug interdiction program used in both the U.S. and Canada has
come under heavy fire in courtrooms in both countries including in Kenora
recently.

Operation Pipeline Convoy was launched in the U.S. in 1986 and made its way
to Canadian police agencies through the RCMP.

It sees officers use stops for highway traffic violations as a basis to
proceed with a set of seemingly innocuous questions.

Responses from the person or people in the vehicle coupled with things the
officer sees in the vehicle, such as fast food wrappers or evidence the
vehicle has been lived in, are weighed as indicators of possible contraband
trafficking.

What has caused such a stir in the courts is that visible minorities seem to
be targeted. Police say it's just coincidence,but lawyers argue it is an
unofficial police policy that may not be on the books but is practiced and
generally accepted.

As well, known drug convicts are often stopped under the guise of a traffic
violation and police use the stop to proceed with drug-related questions
that ultimately see the officer ask for consent to search the vehicle.

The lawfulness of Operation Pipeline Convoy was fodder for an investigative
report written by Gary Webb and featured in the April 1999 issue of Esquire
magazine.

Webb took the same training program as highway patrol officers in the U.S.
He reports many of the methods used in drug interdiction violate people's
constitutional rights which poses the question &emdash; how can police
enforce the law when they themselves choose to break it?

Last June, the American Civil Liberties Union filed a major lawsuit against
the California Highway Patrol charging race discrimination in connection
with Operation Pipeline Convoy practices.

The issue is relatively new to Canadian courts and very new to Kenora's but
the local lawyer who has taken on the cause says questionable detentions and
questioning by police is nothing new here &emdash; the largest stop between
Winnipeg and Thunder Bay on Canada's main highway.

In December, David Gibson represented two Quebec men of Asian descent who
were charged in February 1998 with transporting 50 cardboard boxes of
unmarked tobacco.

Gibson argued the men were pulled over by OPP officers because they had a
rental cube van with out-of-province plates and more specifically, because
of their ethnicity.

The driver was asked for consent to search the vehicle, which was denied,
but the OPP officers persisted and ultimately found the illegal tobacco
stowed in the back part of the van.

The OPP say the van was pulled over for speeding, although such a ticket was
never issued, and the officers were persistent because they could smell
unburnt tobacco.

Justice Donald Fraser acknowledged the roadside stop was questionable but
when weighed against the evidence, ruled if there was a Canadian Charter of
Rights and Freedoms violation, it was negligible compared to the evidence
seized.

Both men were convicted of the excise violation and received the minimum
fine of $154,000 each.

Then last Friday, Gibson argued Aaron Shumka, 19, was unjustly detained and
questioned by a Kenora OPP officer on the Trans-Canada Highway because of
his record for drug offences.

Police obtained a warrant to search the man's vehicle and found marijuana
but Gibson's point was that the warrant should never have been granted
because what transpired at roadside was unlawful.

This time Gibson was successful in having the charge dismissed.

"There are really no hard and fast rules because all cases are different,"
he says. "We need big bright lines so officers know where they stand."

Fraser indicated his written decision will specifically address issues of
detentions and searches to give police some much-needed direction on these
matters.

Thunder Bay Regional OPP Inspector Peter Burns says officers will continue
to utilize skills learned Operation Pipeline Convoy training.