POLICE PROBE COSTS RISING DRAMATICALLY: DEPUTY CHIEF

SAINT JOHN - The complexity and costs of police investigations have risen
dramatically over the past 30 years, Deputy Chief Darrell Scribner of the
Saint John Police Force told the police commission Tuesday night.

The costs are driven by changes brought about by the Charter of Rights and
Freedoms as well as court-directed disclosure rules that now require
police to copy every piece of evidence and make it available to defence
lawyers, Scribner said.

"Every little piece that we touch needs to be replicated and turned over
to the defence," he said. "We spend hours and hours and hours burning out
photocopiers in order to do this."

The force tried to cut costs by providing documents on computer discs.

"Unfortunately not everyone is electronically savvy and we were ordered to
go back to the old system, so it means reams and reams of boxes and tapes.
Whatever we are working on needs to be replicated for each person
representing an accused," he said.Drugs are behind a lot of crime because
people who become addicted steal to pay for their next fix. In Saint John
the biggest problems are with prescription painkillers that are sold
illegally and usually injected by the user.

As an example, Scribner detailed the costs of the investigation into the
November 2005 arson of the north end community police office, which was
related to a drug investigation.

It took six months and involved a number of local officers, plus one
undercover officer from outside the community, for a total of $197,000.
Overtime amounted to another $21,000. The costs of getting all the
regulatory and documentary evidence to apply for a wiretap cost $21,000.
Rent was $3,000. The force had to pay Aliant $10,000 and Rogers $11,000
for access to the tapped lines. In the end the investigation costs totaled
$267,000, he said.

And that didn't take into account the costs of using police cars,
preparing disclosure, or getting overtime for officers called to court on
their days off, he said.

In a recent joint investigation with another police force, city police
ended up monitoring 30 phone lines because the targets kept switching
phones. For two months the costs of accessing the lines was $70,000. Then
the costs of hiring people to listen to the tapes and type out the
conversations added up to $142,000.

Once a case goes to court and a conviction is obtained, there is always
the possibility of an appeal.

"We have to do it all over again, that whole court piece has to be done
again. The only thing that is different is that about year-and-a-half has
passed and you are scrambling for the notes you used the first time," he
said.

The need to handle large volumes of evidence, apply the latest
investigative techniques and keep records is a major factor behind the
need for a new police station, Chief Bill Reid said.

"We are not up to current standards in a lot of these areas," he said.