RIGHTS VIOLATIONS BY RCMP NULLIFY DRUG-PROBE EVIDENCE

A B.C. Provincial Court judge has tossed out all evidence seized in a
massive ecstasy-production investigation after finding that RCMP
officers "ignored" the Charter rights of five suspects to such a
degree that "one might have thought that the investigation took place
before the Charter of Rights had been enacted."

In a 34-page ruling, the judge took officers to task for hosing down
two half-naked suspects outside their home in the cold, failing to
bring in interpreters to read suspects their rights, failing to allow
suspects to read warrants and not filing court documents in a timely
manner.

"The officers in charge just did not seem to care," Judge Paul Meyers
wrote.

"I find that the cumulative violations in this case lead to the
conclusion that the officers in charge of this investigation operated
throughout in 'bad faith.'"

The scathing judgment, dated June 21 and posted online last week, came
after more than two dozen hearings carried out over two years.

RCMP are reviewing the decision to identify any areas of concern and how
best to address them, spokeswoman Cpl. Annie Linteau said Friday.

Over 14 months, RCMP drug investigators watched the comings and goings
of several people at multiple locations in Richmond.

They learned that ecstasy tablets were being produced, packed into
foil bags marked "Chinese tea" and then shipped to Toronto and
elsewhere -- an operation that a police expert later testified was
could produce $10 million worth of pills.

In January 2007, police watched as two men discarded two large plastic
garbage bags into a Dumpster.

Believing the suspects had realized police were watching them and were
now dismantling their production plant, officers decided to move in
and arrest the suspects.

The missteps by police, according to the judge, began
immediately.

Even though police had a "pretty good idea" that some of the suspects
had limited English skills, police "basically just closed their eyes
to this real, potential problem" and did nothing in advance to plan
for it, such as having warrants translated into Chinese or bringing in
Chinese interpreters, the judge said.

In at least one instance, a suspect answered "no" when asked by the
arresting officer whether he understood his rights after they were
read to him.

"There was no excuse" for not having translators, the judge
said.

At two homes, police failed to read or show the contents of the search
warrant to the homes' occupants, which is required by law.

At one home, two occupants were forced to lie handcuffed on the front
lawn on their stomachs -- one was wearing only boxers, the other was
wearing boxers and a T-shirt.

Because police believed the men had been exposed to toxic chemicals,
they called in a fire crew to decontaminate the men by spraying their
bodies with cold water.

"It is not an insignificant thing to force someone to stand or sit,
halfnaked, while being hosed down in front of their neighbours, in the
middle of the day and in the middle of winter," the judge said.

"This humiliation so easily could have been avoided" if police brought
in portable privacy screens.

At another location, the judge criticized police for using the
"dynamic entry" method of executing a search warrant -- busting down
the door -- when there was no evidence the occupants were armed or
dangerous or could hide or dispose of evidence at a moment's notice.

Under the law, police are required within a week of executing a search
warrant to file a report in court outlining items seized and their
grounds for seizing them.

In this case, police didn't file a report until one month
later.