POLICE BUNGLING FURTHER HURTS RCMP'S CAUSE

Richmond RCMP have received a second black eye, this one from a
provincial court judge who tossed out drug charges from a 2007 ecstasy
bust and rebuked police on their handling of the case.

(The other black eye was the tasering death of Polish immigrant Robert
Dziekanski by four Richmond RCMP officers in 2007.)

In throwing out charges to Tin Lik Ho, Qing Hou, Shao Wei Huang, Yi
Feng Kevin Li and Kai Lai Kyle Zhou, Judge Paul R. Meyers said police
consistently "ignored and flaunted the accuseds' Charter of Rights,
and did so consistently over a 14-month period."

In 2007, police busted an ecstasy lab at 3671 Raymond Ave. But what
seemed like a slam-dunk case quickly eroded from there.

According to the judgment, police had a search warrant, but didn't
show or read it to two of the accused.

Police did not bring along an interpreter when one of the accused--who
did not speak English--had his rights read to him. "The police
basically just closed their eyes to this real, potential problem, by
doing nothing in advance to plan for it," Judge Myers wrote.

And two of the accused were forced to sit outside, half-naked in
midwinter in front of their neighbours, where they were
"decontaminated" by fire hoses.

They then failed to file a written report with the court registry
within the required seven days of the execution of a search warrant.

"It is fundamental to the courts' ability to supervise the proper
execution of warrants and it is fundamental to the rights of people
who are about to have their homes searched by the police, to know that
the courthouse in their area, will have all of the legal documents
pertaining to the intrusion of their privacy, available for them to
inspect," Judge Myers wrote.

This judgment won't help the RCMP's cause in B.C. The RCMP's contract
is up next year and this latest bungling will only lead to further
demands to switch a provincial police force, as in Ontario.

While RCMP has been reeling following in-custody deaths, lack of
co-operation with other police forces, a beating caught on tape in
Kelowna and more. This only undermines all the great work the RCMP
does in B.C. the majority of the time.

What most critics object to is the lack of accountability from RCMP
brass in Ottawa, with its top-down approach. Unless that attitude
quickly changes, provincial politicians will have great difficulty
defending the renewal of the RCMP contract next year.