RETROFITS LEAVE COPS WITHOUT ANY JAIL CELLS

Ridge Meadows RCMP will have to get by for three to six months without
any police cells at the local detachment due to retrofits required
under federal legislation to ensure prisoner and staff safety.

"It's going to be a bit of a logistics challenge for us," said
Superintendent Dave Walsh.

Walsh said the detachment is still consulting with the contractor
about how long it will take but the retrofit requires removing load
bearing walls and essentially gutting the cells.

He said Ridge Meadows RCMP will have to take prisoners to Coquitlam
during the renovation period, which he said "makes sense" because
that's where the courthouse is that the prisoners would have to be
escorted to anyway.

Walsh estimates the detachment deals with between four and five
prisoners a day and he estimates officers would have to escort
prisoners to Coquitlam two or three times in a 12-hour period.

Police officers would also have to collect fingerprints and
photographs taken at Coquitlam RCMP cells of the prisoners and would
have to be there during hearings with a justice of the peace done over
the telephone to determine whether the prisoner stays in custody or
not.

"We're hopeful (the renovations will be done) in a shorter timeframe
because the longer we go the more money it will be and the more time
for our officers," said Walsh.

The retrofits are required to upgrade safety standards for staff and
prisoners, he said. The standards have been put in place to protect
suicidal or mentally ill prisoners but also cell guards, he said.

Walsh said the Ridge Meadows cells still have bars on them, which
prisoners could use to try and hang themselves. As well, prisoners can
reach through the bars and grab guards or spit or throw bodily fluids
at guards.

Walsh said if there ever was a situation where there wasn't enough
room in Coquitlam RCMP cells local jails have offered to help Ridge
Meadows RCMP out.

Walsh updated Maple Ridge council on the cell situation and other
issues at Monday's workshop.

Superintendent Dave Walsh said The Always Growing Green Society
(TAGGS) medicinal marijuana dispensary that opened up in May as well
as issues with legal marijuana grow-ops are still on the police's
"radar screen."

"We're continuing to work with the department of Justice, Health
Canada, our RCMP legal services. It is an issue not just in Maple
Ridge but across the Lower Mainland... and Canada," said Walsh.

Councillor Craig Speirs said the federal government "has got to
examine this in a positive manner as a health issue to get it away
from the criminal element as much as possible given the present climate."

Medicinal marijuana dispensaries aren't legally allowed to distribute
marijuana under Health Canada medicinal marijuana access regulations.
However, the dispensary have opened up across the country and
medicinal marijuana users say there's a need for them to exist because
not everyone is capable of growing their own marijuana and some users
are unhappy with the quality of marijuana that can be bought through
Health Canada.

Walsh said Ridge Meadows RCMP is trying to get bar owners to
voluntarily participate in a type of Bar Watch program. Walsh said
it's not moving forward as fast as police would like but discussions
are underway. Inspector Derren Lench said there have been three
meetings so far and employees from Haney Hotel and Roosters have
signed up as co-chairs. He said they would be working on creating a
voluntary code of conduct for bars.

Councillor Craig Speirs wanted to know if council could require bars
to participate in the program as a condition of their licence.

"I'd like to make it mandatory. I think it's part of being a
responsible merchant in a community," he said.

Brock McDonald, director of business licencing, permits and bylaws,
said he would have to consult the district's lawyer on what could be
required.

Councillor Cheryl Ashlie, who has been pressing for re-establishment
of a Bar Watch style program, said she doesn't want to see youth
"caught in the crossfire," beat up in the parking lot or over served
alcohol.

During an update on negotiations around a new RCMP contract (the
current one ends in 2012) Councillor Al Hogarth said he'd like to see
improvements in the criminal justice system because he said
municipalities can throw "gobs of money" at policing and have the best
trained and equipped police force in the world but without reform to
the criminal justice system "we're just wasting our money."

"I think it's imperative we have to start making a movement towards
getting the system fixed because I basically think it's broken," said
Hogarth. "I think we've become a bunch of namby pambies in this world
honestly. We give too much to the poor criminal and forget about the
people that have been perpetrated on. We have to give more back to the
people who are hurt by these criminals and let them know that the
system can be fixed and their pain and their suffering whatever it may
be may not be healed but certainly will go a long way to being repaired,"