Prime Time Crime's - Crime & Punishment

Playing the race card shows own prejudice

2009-07-24T15:06:00.007-07:00

Last week in Cambridge Mass., Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates was arrested for disorderly conduct and first Gates through the media, and then on Wednesday, President Barack Obama, turned it into an issue of race. Professor Gates is black you see and an articulate and well-respected intellectual.

But claims that this is about race is a red herring at best and blatent character assassination of a professional, veteran police officer, Sgt. James Crowley, at worst.

The facts don't seem to be in dispute only the interpretation regurgitated by the tongue-cluckers who seem unable to separate the wheat from the chaff in all of this.

Professor Gates was returning from a trip and took a cab home. He had evidently forgotten his keys and together with the assistance of the also black cab driver, managed to force his way into the house. Unbeknownst to him, a woman observing the efforts to force entry into the home called 9-1-1 and said two black men were breaking into the house.

Now, lest we get distracted too early, the complainant was white and the men were black, yes. But, when the witness is asked to describe the indviduals she believes is breaking into a residence she can only state the obvious. Any suggestion to the contrary is specious.

Sgt. Crowley along with three other officers, one of whom was also black for the record, responded to the burglary in progress, a Priority One call in any jurisdiction in North America.

Upon arrival, Sgt. Crowley observed Professor Gates and instead of arresting him at gunpoint, which I might add might well have happened in any other jurisdiction which did not include Harvard, simply asked the good professor for identification to establish whether he belonged in the home.

Professor Gates responded with vitriol and abuse that was uncalled for and undeserved. He started the discourse by accusing the officer of racism with his first words in response to the request for ID when he said, "Why, because I am a black man in America?" Gee, no sir, it is because the police are responding to a break-in in progress call and they found you there so it might just be considered reasonable for them to ask if, in fact, you were a burglar or the rightful resident.

Gates kept up the abuse and was ultimately arrested and charged with the disorderly conduct offenses.

Gates, after he was released from custody a few hours later, clamboured up on his high horse and began his tirade of nonsense. The mainstream media gleefully picked up the clarion call of racism against the Cambridge police without putting the blame for the arrest on the one person who caused it to happen - Professor Gates.

And that's where the story might have died were it not for that silver-tongued orator and rhetoritician, Barack Obama, who fanned the dying embers of the story by saying when asked at the tail end of a press conference, what he thought of the story. "Now, I don't know, not having been there and not seeing all the facts, what role race played in that, but I think it is fair to say, number one, any of us would be pretty angry." Well, he was right in that he hadn't seen the facts and that he wasn't there and didn't know if race played a role. And he should have shut his mouth having already said too much at that point.

But he couldn't resist his own underlying prejudices, now could he?

He continued, "Number two, that the Cambridge police acted stupidly in arresting somebody when there was already proof that they were in their own home and number three, I think we know separately and apart from this incident, there is a long history in this country of African-Americans and Latinos being stopped by law enorcement disproportionately, that's just a fact. Race remains a factor in this society. That does not lessen the incredible progress that has been made. I am standing here as testimony to the progress that has been made but the fact of the matter is this still haunts us."

Ask the guy a question and get a speech in response. But it wasn't just the usual rhetoric and stuff and nonsense that has become his trademark. No, after admitting he didn't have the facts to form an opinion he did just that and said the police acted "stupidly." What? No they did not. In point of fact, Sgt. Crowley acted out of respect and professionalism, showing his experience when he didn't point a gun at the first sight of Gates and secure him, on the ground and in cuffs, prior to establishing he had a right to be there. Because, on any 'in progress' call, 9 times out of ten that's what would happen.

In this case, Crowley sensed this wasn't what it appeared to be to the complainant and was proceeding according to that sixth sense. He merely asked Gates to identify himself so that he could establish that the two black men who were seen breaking into the house had the right to do that. It was Gates who acted viscerally and verbally violent to the police officer. Well, guess what? He deserved to get arrested whether he was black, white, purple or a European blue blood. It was his behaviour and his abusive mouth and his own prejudice that triggered the arrest.

Even the 24 hour, all-Obama news network formerly known as CNN, seemed to sense that. By Thursday evening they were suggesting in hushed terms that maybe, just maybe, Obama should not have spoken out in such an irresponsible manner.

This case has nothing to do with racism on the part of the police and has everything to do with the blind ideology of Gates and unfortunately, the President of the United States. Sgt. Crowley can stand on the higher moral ground in this matter.

Unfortunately, he is alone in that regard.

Leo Knight

primetimecrime@gmail.com

Plus ca change...

2009-06-27T21:03:00.005-07:00

News items ran this week trumpeting that Canada was the methamphetimine production capital of the world and honorable mention was given to our position as the Ecstasy capital as well. Many media outlets clucked their Holier-Than-Thou tongues about this as though it was something new. Well, it isn't and not by a long shot.

Warnings have been going out for at least 15 years that the media has written about or been otherwise informed about. Yet, higher purpose papers like the Globe & Mail seem to have just discovered this nugget of information as evidenced by their main editorial on Friday.

There is nothing new or magical about this. In the past 15-20 years Canada has become a major drug producing country on a parallel with Columbia. We just don't have the sweaty jungles.

But we certainly do have the violence that goes with that territory. And we have seen the intimidation attempts on law enforcement and participants in the justice system.

How did we get here?

Well now, there's a question. And the short answer is the lurch to the political left this country has taken in the past forty years.

In the '70s the rule of law was that evidence, no matter how gained, was admissible. Now, a bloody murder weapon found in the hands of an accused can be excluded as evidence for a myriad of procedural issues that have nothing to do with justice and everything to do with lining lawyers' pockets.

Equally, in the '70s, if you committed a serious crime there was a reasonable chance you were going to go to jail. Not anymore. It is nigh on impossible to go to jail in Canada, despite what the left would like you to believe. Yes, the courts still send people to jail for things like murder and kidnapping and sometimes armed robbery and sexual assault. But that's about it. And then, typically not for very long. Commit any property crime, even one that has a penalty of up to life in prison and see if you go to jail for any length of time.

You will likely get a conditional sentence. Or, if you have about 100 prior convictions you may actually get a short custodial sentence. Maybe.

The reality is that our justice system is a joke to criminals. They know they can do whatever they want with impugnity. Murder is cheap in Canada. Property is not really yours and all your efforts to get ahead and make a better life means nothing against the rights of the Bobby Logans of the world.

Ah yes, Bobby Logan, junkie, thief, ne'er do well and all around waste of good oxygen. He's back in the news after yet again being arrested for . . . SURPRISE! . . . . a series of residential B & E's.

Regular readers will recall a series of pieces I wrote in 2002 about Logan and how the system failed him and his many victims time and time again. Well, nothing has changed in the intervening years. He has been in jail for short periods of time. He has been on bail conditions, probation and all manner of court imposed rules. None of which, I might add he has followed. And that, in itself, is nothing new.

Logan has been before the courts more times than Carter has little liver pills and has progressively been treated less and less seriously by the courts. This 44 year old man, and I use the expression in the loosest of terms, needs to be incarcerated for the rest of his waste of a life. If, for no other reason than to save all of his future victims, also known as protecting the public which is one of the sentencing considerations the law says the judiciary must consider in sentencing. But they rarely do.

The legal industry created by Pierre Trudeau with the Charter of Rights and Freedoms that is anything but, is to blame. It is why organized crime has taken to Canada like fleas to a bloodhound. It is why we are in the same class as Columbia or Afghanistan as drug producing nations. And it is why we need to actually get tough on crime not just whimsically piss and moan about what a problem it is.

And, at the end of the day, it is why we need to tell the political left that we have had enough. And while we are at it, we probably need to tell the current government to reclaim their rightful place on the right side of the political spectrum instead of buying into socialist nonsense for political expediency.

Bobby Logan is an example of why this needs to happen fast.

Leo Knight

primetimecrime@gmail.com

A troubling case gets worse

2009-06-09T23:36:00.005-07:00

_{The Braidwood Inquiry into the Taser death of Robert Dziekanski has been ongoing for the past five months or so. In the interim period we have heard more than enough about the structural failings of our national police force. We have also heard ad hominen attacks against the four police officers involved who set out from home on that fateful day just determined to do their jobs. They have been called thugs and murderers and all manner of hysterical epithets.}

_{I have tried to keep the arguments on both sides balanced by stating discussions of the actions of the members involved in the response to Dziekanski’s violent behaviour need to be separated from the way the RCMP handled the aftermath.}

_{The response by the four members involved was within the guidelines for the Use of Force set out by the RCMP and within that, the members acted appropriately. Criminal charges of murder or criminal negligence or attempts by the media to pillory those members for their response that night are simply not warranted.}

_{Could they have spent more time trying to reason with Dziekanski or otherwise settle the situation? I think the response to that question is an obvious “Yes.”}

_{But not doing so does not make them murderers or thugs.}

_{But, saying that is not akin to agreeing with the RCMP’s media relations strategy or its response as the public sought to find the truth.}

_{Nor am I trying to justify the apparent discrepancies in the follow up investigation. Nor am I backing the policy of the RCMP relative to the use of a conducted energy weapon in potentially violent situations. I believe those are all separate arguments.}

_{Having said all of that, I am troubled by how the RCMP has positioned itself in this. The public has a perception that the RCMP is lying or trying to cover up something. If that perception is allowed to grow and build, then the inherent credibility of every serving member who does his and her best on a daily basis is threatened. Perception is, after all, reality for those who hold it.}

_{This is not a “do over” situation. Credibility, once lost, is nigh on impossible to regain. If the public believes the RCMP has lied to cover up the actions of its members in one case then every case and every statement becomes suspect.}

_{There is no question that the RCMP has some problems in this starting with the original statements to the media going through the decision by a senior Mountie not to correct inaccurate versions of events released to the media in the early days to the discrepancies in the attending members’ recollection of events.}

_{But those need to be separated from the response to Dziekanski’s actions.}

_{Now we have the latest sequence of events in the petitioning of the BC Supreme Court to limit Judge Braidwood’s ability to find misconduct of the attending members.}

_{The members involved have a right to defend themselves. And they have a right to use whatever means the law allows. But the optics are not good.}

_{The arguments in play are viable. What are the parameters of the inquiry? Here is the original announcement.}

On the surface, at the least, findings, such as Braidwood is trying to suggest are in play, are beyond his parameters.

As far as the other main argument that a BC authority has no ability to direct anything against a federal police officer may hold more water. The RCMP are not subject to the BC Police Act or the authority of the Office of the Police Complaints Commissioner. They are subject of the authority of the RCMP Act, a piece of federal legislation.

This is a double-edged sword at best. While it is true that the RCMP are not treated the same as the Vancouver Police Department when a complaint is laid, it is also true that they are acting as the municipal or provincial police depending on where they are assigned.

An argument in this vein may well serve the interests of the members but one can hardly see how it serves the interests of the RCMP in the face of the credibility issues they already face in the aftermath of the death of Robert Dziekanski.

And did I mention that the contract between the RCMP and the Province of British Columbia is coming due in the next couple of years? The troubling matters in this case continue to build.

Leo Knight

primetimecrime@gmail.com

Companion lost

2009-05-24T21:55:00.003-07:00

I cried a lot today.

I know, I know, I’m a big tough guy. But today I had to put down my beautiful German Shepherd, Holmes, after 12 and a half years of being my unconditional friend and companion.

We are masochists us dog owners I think. We know we will outlive our pets and we get the gut-wrenching inevitable end such as I experienced today. Yet we will do it again and again.

Holmes was a terrific dog. I got her when she was just six weeks old. And walking her in those days down around Second Beach in Vancouver illustrated what a chick magnet she was. Or I suppose any puppy really. But damn, she was cute.

My friend John Daly, the BCTV, now Global, reporter was responsible for her improbable name. She was little ball of fluff when he first met her. The first words out of his mouth were “Yo Holmes” and thus she was named.

I spent a lot of time with her in the early days. She learned all the usual commands plus a few more. When she was told to “get busy,’ she went off the beaten path and did her business in an area where no living creature would likely tread.

I remember a day when she was ill and had diarrhea. I had to go out for the evening and was concerned about the state of the house upon my return. Well she did have an issue, but she had the good sense to get into the bathtub and deal with her issue there.

She was loved by anyone who came into contact with her. This morning those who loved her got together and walked with her in her favourite park. She went for a swim in the sea for the last time and was cheered on by those who cared.

I have been blessed to have had a great dog in my life and saying goodbye was one of the hardest things I have ever done. I held her in my lap as she breathed her last. I dread life without her, but I know she has had a great life and I know she enjoyed every moment she had.

Holmes, I will miss you.

Leo Knight

primetimecrime@gmail.com

Media distorts not reports

2009-05-18T16:21:00.001-07:00

Media distortion runs rampant today in all manner of issues and stories. One need look no further than so-called Global Warming as an issue or the tasering of Robert Dziekanski as a story, to understand the power of the media and the truth distortion that occurs to fit their ideological concepts.

What concerns me most about this is that the role of the media is to inform and to shine light into the dark corners where those in power try to hide things. Think Watergate and the yeoman’s job done by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein. And those were certainly the lessons I learned as a green-as-grass puppy on the police desk in the newsroom of the now defunct Montreal Star studying in wide-eyed wonderment the methods of City Editor John Yorston or grizzled vet of the police desk Bob Taylor, or the oh-so-well connected Paul Dubois.

They didn’t make news or ‘spin’ news. They reported it. They were fair and balanced but they always worked to get the story and hold those responsible accountable for what they did. They never created a story. But they worked tirelessly to get the story. And they questioned everything.

Not so today I’m afraid.

Newsrooms today are filled with reporters whose only source is a fax machine and don’t question the pablum being served up by the spin-meisters. Look no further than the slack the mainstream media give the Pivot Legal Society in Vancouver. The next time they are on the right side of an issue will be the first time yet they are given all sorts of credibility by the media as though every announcement about the horrible police is treated as though issued by Moses on the Mount.

Yet I know of incidents when a police officer was talking to a victim of a robbery trying to help when a Pivot activist thrust himself between the officer and the victim, pushing a “rights” card at him saying “you don’t have to talk to the cop. Don’t say anything.”

Pivot are nothing more than another mouthpiece of the poverty industry in Vancouver, the almighty and self-serving ,‘way over there left,’ and deserve no more attention than that.

But I digress.

The Braidwood Inquiry is costing taxpayers millions. And for what? Really, for what, to prove that the media relations strategy and procedures of the RCMP is fundamentally broken? Duh! Who didn’t know that?

The Force has always been a one-way stream for information, even for members within, information goes in and precious little ever comes back the other way. Why should it surprise anyone that the RCMP tried to keep information under wraps in the Dziekanski case a secret even after they learned that their spokesman had given inaccurate information on the night it occurred? Misinformation and bottlenecks on information flow has been a part of the RCMP culture since the March West.

But really, what has that or any of the millions of dollars spent thus far got to do with the death of Dziekanski?

Dziekanski was a drifter with little purpose or skills in life. He was a three pack a day smoker and an alcoholic. He had been somewhere in the area of 18 hours without a smoke or a drink when he landed in Vancouver and spent the next 10 or 12 hours wandering around YVR in confusion until he lost it.

The pathologist in the case testified the Taser did not kill Dziekanski. Even when he conceded he had not been told that the Taser had been fired five times on Dziekanski did he change his opinion on the cause of death. So, why are we spending these millions of taxpayer dollars on the Braidwood enquiry and watching various mainstream media setting their hair on fire? To learn that the media relations strategy of the RCMP is fundamentally flawed or that the Force is fiercely protective of information and won’t share with the public information that the public has a right to know?

It is. Always has been. Not likely to change. Can we move on?

Leo Knight

primetimecrime@gmail.com

Media distorts not reports

2009-05-18T16:17:00.000-07:00

What concerns me most about this is that the role of the media is to inform and to shine light into the dark corners where those in power try to hide things. Think Watergate and the yeoman's job done by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein. And those were certainly the lessons I learned as a green-as-grass puppy on the police desk in the newsroom of the now defunct Montreal Star studying in wide-eyed wonderment the methods of City Editor John Yorston or grizzled vet of the police desk Bob Taylor, or the oh-so-well connected Paul Dubois.

They didn't make news or 'spin' news. They reported it. They were fair and balanced but they always worked to get the story and hold those responsible accountable for what they did. They never created a story. But they worked tirelessly to get the story. And they questioned everything.

Not so today I'm afraid.

Newsrooms today are filled with reporters whose only source is a fax machine and don't question the pablum being served up by the spin-meisters. Look no further than the slack the mainstream media give the Pivot Legal Society in Vancouver. The next time they are on the right side of an issue will be the first time yet they are given all sorts of credibility by the media as though every announcement about the horrible police is treated as though issued by Moses on the Mount.

Yet I know of incidents when a police officer was talking to a victim of a robbery trying to help when a Pivot activist thrust himself between the officer and the victim, pushing a "rights" card at him saying "you don't have to talk to the cop. Don't say anything."

Pivot are nothing more than another mouthpiece of the poverty industry in Vancouver, the almighty and self-serving ,'way over there left,' and deserve no more attention than that.

But I digress.

But really, what has that or any of the millions of dollars spent thus far got to do with the death of Dziekanski?

The pathologist in the case testified the Taser did not kill Dziekanski. Even when he conceded he had not been told that the Taser had been fired five times on Dziekanski did he change his opinion on the cause of death. So, why are we spending these millions of taxpayer dollars on the Braidwood enquiry and watching various mainstream media setting their hair on fire? To learn that the media relations strategy of the RCMP is fundamentally flawed or that the Force is fiercely protective of information and won't share with the public information that the public has a right to know?

It is. Always has been. Not likely to change. Can we move on?

Leo Knight

primetimecrime@gmail.com

Reality at odds with picture painted by media in police shooting

2009-03-29T22:25:00.001-07:00

In the middle of the media feeding frenzy pillorying the RCMP members involved responding to the disturbance caused by Polish traveler Robert Dziekanski who died after being Tasered, Vancouver Police officers shot and killed Michael Vann Hubbard in a busy area of downtown Vancouver.

The initial reports were that he was a homeless man being checked as a possible suspect in a theft from a vehicle and in the process pulled a knife and was shot. The two officers involved were both female and the usual nonsense was inevitable from the media, the hand-wringers and the cop haters. Some of whom, I might add, are indistinguishable from the others.

But what was really amusing was the comments from some of the same folks blue with rage in their criticism of the RCMP for using a Taser on Dziekanski asking why the VPD officers involved in the shooting weren't armed with Tasers so they didn't have to shoot Vann Hubbard.

The mind boggles at the sheer hypocrisy.

But even though the shooting is under investigation the cop critics were in full voice. And they were happy to pile on the heels of the Braidwood inquiry into the death of Dziekanski. Police were being referred to as thugs and murderers.

On Friday members of the Vann Hubbard family filed a lawsuit claiming wrongful death on behalf of the VPD. Well, whatever. They have described their father as gentle and law abiding. Perhaps he was when they knew him, but when he was in Vancouver, he was homeless and violent as evidenced by his own behaviour.

He was being checked by two police officers while he was carrying a black backpack similar in description to one just stolen from a vehicle. According to a memo circulated by the Chief Constable of the VPD, Jim Chu, they engaged him in conversation for at least a minute that was "uneventful."

Suddenly, Vann Hubbard pulled a utility knife, a boxcutter if you will, that was razor sharp and fully extended. He approached the police officers with it and they pulled their service weapons and retreated trying to keep a safe distance while containing the armed man. All the while they endeavoured to keep busy downtown pedestrian traffic out of harm's way.

When at length, this "gentle man" charged at one of the officers after one minute and forty seconds of the standoff, he was shot. Once, to the centre of mass, just like the officer was trained to do. Vann Hubbard died as a result.

Those who were trying to nail the police to the wall, and I include the complicit media in this statement, tried to obfuscate the sequence of events to paint the police as killers and all manner of evil things. The reality is that they were doing their jobs in investigating a just occurred theft from auto and wound up being themselves placed in harm's way. Those two members, and females both I might add, accepted their responsibility in spite of the danger, and while trying to focus on the danger they faced also did everything they could to keep the public out of harm's way as the drama unfolded.

Never mind the nonsense from the family, from the so-called witness who said the police deleted a video from his phone while saying the police fired several shots, never mind all the nonsense. There are three independent videos of the shooting all of which corroborate the police version of events in the shooting.

Those two police officers did their jobs on that day and for that they deserve to be supported not chastised by the chattering class.

And for the family, I am sorry for your loss. But really, why was your loved one homeless in Vancouver? Why did he pull a utility knife one minute after being engaged by the police? And finally, in the face of warnings to drop the knife, why did he charge at one officer? Waste your time, money and energy in a lawsuit if you want, but the two members of the VPD did their job on that fateful day. And they carry a distinct sadness as a result.

Chief Constable Jim Chu did a service to the police officers of VPD with his memo. Hopefully the public airing of that memo will shut up those drowning in their ignorance when they are so quick to criticize those who protect the rest of us.

Leo Knight

primetimecrime@gmail.com

Truth no defence for targetted police force

2009-03-21T09:42:00.001-07:00

Many years ago when I joined the RCMP, it was a proud organization, albeit one rife with tradition and more than a little out of step with the times. In those days, I referred to the Mounties as "100 years of tradition unhampered by progress." To a degree that remains the same. And, at the same time, the RCMP has struggled to reinvent itself to be more relevant in a changing world.

In my early days in the RCMP training academy in Regina I began to learn about that tradition and proud history. I became part of a family that I will never quite be separated from no matter how much water passes under the bridge. Indeed, I had dinner last summer with Terry David Mulligan, the ageless DJ who has made a career for himself in rock 'n roll presenting and promotion. Mulligan, as a young man was also a Mountie and during dinner we didn't so much talk of music, past, current and future, but of our like experiences in the Mounted Police.

And it is that bond, born of running all over Hell's half-acre until you earned your marching orders and swimming with bricks and drill hall abuse that allows two people with disparate backgrounds to share a laugh and story about a challenge accepted and passed that will never go away.

But part of that is the angst felt watching the media devour the RCMP over the Taser incident at Vancouver International Airport that resulted in the death of Polish traveler Robert Dziekanski and feeling that it is all grossly unfair.

Media spin and obfuscation of the facts are old hat and to be expected when looking at any story where the "heavy-handed" police are involved. Or, rather as a friend refers to the police as the "jack-booted enforcers."

The media coverage of the Braidwood Inquiry into the actions of the RCMP on that fateful night is little more of that confirmation of their bias and attempt to pillory what was once a great Canadian institution.

Dziekanski was a ne'er do well at best. He was a drunk and a chain smoker who had done without both for more than 20 hours on his travels from Poland to YVR. After that many hours in the air without a drink or a smoke, I can imagine he was a little on edge. But while on the ground at YVR, he didn't seem to possess the mental acumen to get himself some help in the form of directions for hours on end. Equally the Customs and Immigration folks and the YVR security folks seemed to have ignored him in a high security area for those same hours, yet it is the RCMP that are the bad guys in this movie.

So, when he started tossing around desks and computers it is only natural that the police were called. And in strolled four members of our once-proud national police force just trying to do their job. Their reward has been to be metaphorically hung, drawn and quartered by a media convinced they are covering up murder.

Those four members of the RCMP were just trying to do their job in the manner they were trained. Nothing more and nothing less.

Yet it is the little details that have lawyers turning summersaults. Quibble about the details all you want, but the bottom line is that four police officers were dispatched to a call of a violent, possibly drunk male who was on a rampage. They attended, approached the suspect carefully and in the face of apparent dismissal and potential violence they responded in the manner they were trained. And the reality is that every nickel – or perhaps I should say every millions of dollars of taxpayer money – spent on the Braidwood inquiry is an absolute waste of money.

There's no mystery here. If you don't like the way the Mounties handled their response, lobby to change the policy, don't shoot the messenger. Well, actually, that is already too late. The professional bureaucrat named by the Prime Minister to take control of the once proud Force, William Elliot, has already altered Force policy on the use of Tasers without knowing thing one about reality on the mean streets.

But piling on the RCMP has almost become de rigeur for the mainstream media. Today, for example, I did an interview with a CBC reporter about a situation involving a municipal police force and she kept referring to the RCMP so conditioned is she.

But that is what it is. The RCMP is a big, scarlet clad target and that is fair enough. But, I would much prefer a debate surrounded with facts not ideologically driven bovine scatology. But, unfortunately, that is all the mainstream media seems to be capable of producing when the RCMP is under the microscope in this country.

The Mounties have many foibles and in my opinion need to be reconstituted as our National Police Force not municipal cops. But that is my opinion and perhaps the subject of another discussion. But they also do not deserve to be pilloried for trying to do their job.

And Robert Dziekanski was waste of a man even if the police haters are trying to elevate him to sainthood. He had not amounted to anything in his life and he wasn't smart enough to recognize that responding police officers were trying to intervene with his dilemma.

Too bad, so sad. But his death was not the fault of those four police officers.

Leo Knight

primetimecrime@gmail.com

Parents' comments minimize Mayerthorpe reality

2009-03-09T21:00:00.001-07:00

Three years ago I was sitting in a lounge in the Calgary airport when my Blackberry first started buzzing with information about a multiple shooting of RCMP officers in Mayerthorpe, Alberta. The original information was sketchy but all too soon the horrors perpetrated by James Roszko were all too clear.

Four young police officers, good Canadian boys, were dead. Ambushed and cut down in the prime of their young lives by a man not fit to shine their boots.

Roszko, in true cowardly fashion, took his own life when another member attending from Edmonton returned Roszko's fire and wounded him. Roszko crawled back into that Quonset hut which housed his marijuana grow op and chop shop and took his pathetic life.

The nation was shocked at the news and watched with heavy hearts as the Mounties gathered in record numbers in Edmonton to pay tribute to their fallen comrades.

But once the tears were shed and four young men laid to rest, investigators had to piece together what happened. How was Roszko able to get back onto his property and ambush the police officers?

Their investigation led to the arrest of two other young men who ultimately were the answer to that question. They not only provided Roszko with a weapon, but they drove him to his property knowing full well he was going to do what he did. And they did nothing to stop him.

Dennis Cheeseman and Shawn Hennessey were charged with being parties to the offence of first degree murder times four which, by law, is the applicable charge when the victim is a police officer.

Then began the predictable nonsense from friends and family of the two men. They were good boys don't you know? They were pillars of the community and all that crap that seems ubiquitous in the mainstream media whenever someone does something horrid. Reporters dutifully trot out and talk to family, friends and neighbours who then utter banalities about what a nice man he was and I would have never imagined he could do something so awful . . .blah, blah, blah. It's all so predictable..

The two accused last month pled guilty to reduced charges of manslaughter and were sentenced to 13 and 15 years respectively. Which frankly, given the callous and deliberate manner that they enabled Roszko to do what he did, was not enough. As far as I am concerned they should die in prison if there was justice in this country.

Last week, on the anniversary of the killings, I read a news story where the families of these young men are planning to appeal their convictions even though they pled guilty. They are still maintaining their precious little children are really angels and did what they did because they were afraid of Roszko and … boo-hoo-hoo.

Well, in the first instance I don't buy the "afraid" nonsense. Had they alerted the police, Roszko would have not ambushed the murdered officers and the chance of him being able to exact any revenge on them would have been remote, at best. Secondly, one of the pair was partnered with Roszko in his illicit activities in the Quonset. He had much more to gain from Roszko's successful ambush of the Mounties than not.

And that one fact alone should not be overlooked when we listen the families' whine about their good boys. Perhaps, had the whining parents done a better job of educating their whelps in the concept of consequences for bad actions, then four young RCMP members might still be alive today.

And their prattle about appeals in this matter show they still haven't grasped the concept.

Leo Knight

primetimecrime@gmail.com

Court ruling defies democracy

2009-03-05T20:36:00.002-08:00

In August of 1982, Ronald Smith, a drifter from Alberta, murdered two men in cold blood for the thrill of it. That event took place, in Glacier National Park in Montana, not in Canada.

Smith, in a plea arrangement asked for the death penalty, which I might add, was deservedly granted. He also reiterated that request in March of 1983. In the intervening years Smith has been on death row in a State that is relatively slow to carry out capital case executions.

For years the Liberal governments of Jean Chretien and Paul Martin had their diplomats play the game with Montana authorities seeking, at least on the surface, some form of clemency for Smith, from the hangman's noose. Metaphorically speaking of course. I am not sure how Montana gets rid of its Death Row inmates. Although what is ironic in all of this is that the State of Montana seems poised to get rid of the death penalty. Their House of Representatives is to hold a vote later this spring on the matter.

Smith also seems to have had a change of heart in that he has availed himself of every legal avenue to try and delay or commute his richly deserved death sentence.

With the election of a Conservative government, a different view was taken on the Canadian tradition of diplomatic intervention in death penalty cases. The Tories said, and rightly so in my view, that they would not intervene with democratic countries with the death penalty in cases of multiple murders. Had they removed the word 'multiple' I would have wholeheartedly agreed with the position.

Smith's lawyers, funded not by Smith, made application to the Federal Court of Canada to get that decision overturned. And so, it was overturned by Federal Court Judge R. L. Barnes, who has made an order that the Government of Canada reconstitute its diplomatic efforts to gain clemency for Smith.

Now I don't know Judge Barnes from Adam other than what it says in his official bio. But I note he was appointed during the waning days of the Liberal administration of Paul Martin. But I am stunned that any court in this land has the power to overturn policy decisions made by the elected representatives of the people of Canada.

I am not referring to a piece of legislation deemed unconstitutional by the ermine clad wonders of the Supreme Court of Canada. That is quite another discussion.

The Federal Court of Canada is a Trudeaupian concept that, as far as I can tell, serves no useful function. It is the court directly responsible for the absolute joke that has rendered our refugee system dysfunctional and created an industry for a generation of lawyers that didn't exist 20 years ago.

And let's bear in mind that the State of Montana is not Saudi Arabia or Iran holding public stonings. Smith has had the benefit of every possible avenue of appeal spanning 25 years through the American justice system. There is no question he is guilty of two thrill kills. By his own admission, he killed two people because he wanted to see what it was like. Oh, really?

The irrepressible "useful idiot" Jack Layton waded in on this case saying: "You can't be against the death penalty in Canada but be in favour of it for a Canadian citizen outside of Canada."

Has anyone ever heard the Harper government say they were "against" the death penalty? I certainly haven't and considering the last vote on the matter in the House of Commons was in the mid 70s, I sincerely doubt than any sitting MP has actually registered their position by vote on the subject.

In point of fact, poll after poll has shown that a majority of Canadians support the death penalty in certain cases. I would rank in that number and I suspect, so too would the Prime Minister.

The bottom line is that Smith committed a disgusting, incredibly offensive crime, which he has admitted to doing. And he did it in a jurisdiction with the death penalty. Well, in my view he is the author of his own misfortune, come what may. He needs to be accountable for his actions and in Montana, as it stands, that means he should pay forfeit with his life. I don't have a problem with that and neither does our federal government. The Federal Court of Canada should not be involved.

And therein lies the problem. That any body of unelected judges can dictate policy to our elected representatives is offensive in our democracy and their power needs to be curtailed.

Frankly, I cannot see any reason for their existence in the first instance.

Leo Knight

primetimecrime@gmail.com

Clouding the issue of gang crime

2009-02-16T20:05:00.002-08:00

I have always taken a more Libertarian view of politics. For the record, I believe in less government coupled with the strong enforcement of the laws of right and wrong.

As an example, Vancouver is wrestling with a spike in gun violence and an apparent gang war with the daily shootings in the most public of places like shopping mall parking lots. As the politicians wring their hands trying to figure out what to do about it, they come up with empty public announcements about the addition of 168 more police officers and hiring up to ten prosecutors to work directly with police in the investigation of organized crime groups.

Well, super.

Considering it takes a minimum of one year to hire and train a police officer who is then deployable, that man or woman, on day one, has exactly zero experience as a police officer, it remains to be seen exactly how the announcement by BC Premier Gordon Campbell with have one iota of effect on the reality of the bullets flying today in the Greater Vancouver area.

Equally, while I would never argue against the idea of having dedicated prosecutors working with law enforcement in organized crime investigations, the addition of ten will take more than a little time to find, hire, train and then be functionally able to advise the police involved in complex investigations.

And, for the record, while this 'problem' has only recently captured the public interest, regular readers will note that in the waning days of 1999, I wrote a column saying that organized crime was the biggest threat to this country in the 21^st Century. Yes, that was in the idyllic days pre-9/11, but the threat remains no less so even with the so-called War on Terror.

Yet, for some reason, the rising body count in Vancouver, Toronto, Calgary and Edmonton seems to have suddenly become a major issue with the mainstream media and the politicians seeking ways to shut them up lest the voting public notice the bullet casings alongside the rising body count.

Well, I am glad they finally noticed, but really, isn't it a little late in the game? Ah well, better late than never I suppose.

But then, Campbell and his Attorney General Wally Oppal have spent the last week crowing about the need to lobby the federal government to tighten gun control laws. Huh? Gun control laws in this country are already ridiculously strict. While I, as a law abiding citizen may technically own a gun as long as I have had a course, acquired an FAC and done everything in my power to ensure that the bullets and the gun never contact each other, the reality is that it is extremely difficult and arduous to actually acquire one.

But if a criminal involved in organized crime wants a gun, it is as easy to get one as making a phone call or two and having a few hundred spare dollars. No firearms course required.

If that same criminal commits an offence with a firearm, such as sticking up the local corner grocery corner store, shooting at a rival or threatening someone in a nightclub, the law says that he or she should get a minimum of four years tacked onto whatever sentence the court hands down for the original offence.

Does this happen? Uh, no. The 'use of a firearm in the commission of an offence' charge recommended by police is bargained away so often and so fast that it is simply assumed by the defense that the offender will not have to deal with it.

So, what is more effective, Wally Oppal espousing the virtues of more police, more prosecutors and lobbying the federal government for stricter gun laws, or simply telling the prosecutors who work for him not to plea bargain away the mandatory minimum on gun crime?

There is absolutely no need for further government control on firearms. There is a need for enforcement of the rules as they apply and the support of the Crown and the courts in the application of those laws.

Leo Knight

primetimecrime@gmail.com

The making of a saint

2009-01-19T18:00:00.000-08:00

I wonder when the Vancouver Sun will finish its canonization of Ivan Henry, the rapist jailed in the early 80's after a series of terrifying rapes in Vancouver.

Since Lenny Doust, the elder statesman of BC barristers, reviewed the case and said there were some procedural issues at trial which should be reviewed on appeal, the Vancouver Sun in particular and the mainstream media with the sole exception of Global BC, has endeavored to elevate this guy into another victim saint along with Donald Marshall, Stephen Truscott and, dare I say, Maher Arar.

Now we need to understand a few things about this case. The Vancouver Sun has tried to paint a case against the Vancouver Police as is their wont, by portraying the image of Henry in a police line-up, being obviously there against his will, as though this was the evidence used to convict him.

It wasn't and not by a long shot.

In fact, the VPD detectives handling the serial rape case knew that Henry had queered the lineup process by his resistance. And let's not lose sight of that little detail: it was the actions of Henry himself who made the lineup inadmissible with his physical resistance forcing the VPD to drag him into the lineup room.

So, they then put together a photo lineup and got their prosecutable identifications in that manner. Additionally, in court all the victims that testified and at least two that were not called to testify pointedly, directly and without ambiguity, identified Henry as their attacker.

Henry knew the system inside and out. He has more convictions and run-ins with the police than Carter has little liver pills. He deliberately declined counsel and chose to defend himself against all advice from the Crown and the Bench. Yet, he went forward.

That he was convicted should surprise no one. That his appeals went nowhere also should surprise no one. That one lawyer, albeit a senior and talented one, should examine the file and determine there were some procedural issues which may (highlight the word 'may') taint the conviction is a far cry from screaming injustice and innocent man jailed as the Vancouver Sun has suggested.

Ivan Henry is a scumbag who was declared a Dangerous Offender by the courts and, as a result, has spent over 25 years in prison. That is as it should be. That he is being given the attention he has by the Vancouver Sun and painted as a victim is wrong at so many levels. He was not declared a DO because of this conviction, rather it was because of a lifetime of crime which culminated with a conviction as a serial rapist.

As an example, Henry writes in his excuse-filled "Woe is me" statement, that he was forced into the lineup even though he wasn't charged with anything and the lemmings at the Sun breathlessly report his words as though something horrible was done by the VPD.

The police do physical lineups as part of the investigative process in the hope that they may develop further evidence establishing they have the right suspect before a charge is laid. Any suggestion that the police did something wrong and Henry was hard done by because the VPD forced him into a lineup before he was charged is nothing more than a red herring. Henry orchestrated that deliberately to nullify the effect of a lineup. The only reason to do that was to try and create a possible avenue for appeal because he was - and remains - absolutely guilty.

And we know that because a jury said so, a number of victims said so in a courtroom as well, at least two rape victims said so who were not called to testify. And not only that, but his wife, who he uses as an alibi in his statement trumpeted by the Sun, later gave police a statement of her own saying that everything he said was a lie.

In a conversation with one of the investigators, he said, "If this guy gets out and there is any justice, he'd move next door to [the columnist in the Sun.] And I would happily pay his first month's rent."

Spin in the media is effective. It can result in an innocent man being pilloried for no good reason. It can also result in a guilty man going free. Doust's report is what it is and the system will have another look at the case. But, there is a wide chasm between procedural issues and innocence.

The Vancouver Sun should be more careful in who they are proposing for sainthood.

Leo Knight

primetimecrime@gmail.com

Holidaaaaaaaze . . . .

2009-01-03T16:03:00.004-08:00

Well, the weather outside was indeed frightful, no matter in which part of the Deranged Dominion you reside. I had the distinct pleasure of spending an unscheduled three days in Edmonton in a particularly sub-arctic chill after our plane wasn't allowed to land at a snow-bound Vancouver airport, uncharacteristically up to its knees in the white stuff.

And, I must admit, I certainly did not understand the efforts of the Vancouver media to pillory Air Canada because of the weather. The talk shows and the newspapers were filled to excess with examples of how people couldn't get home or wherever, and somehow it was Air Canada's fault and Westjet, which handles a fraction of traffic that Air Canada does, was somehow beyond reproach.

In the space of four days, major airports Pearson, Halifax Stanfield, YVR then Pearson again then YVR again, got blasted with snowstorms so severe that Environment Canada called the phenomena "Storm-a-geddon."

And somehow that was Air Canada's fault? Flights were delayed all over North America over the Christmas period. But the media seemed to focus on Air Canada. One has to wonder at the critical thinking abilities of the mainstream media. Are they so focused on whatever their political agenda is that they are unable to ask critical questions?

Unfortunately, the answer is yes.

Despite the several days warning preceding the extreme weather, officials at YVR didn't see the necessity to bring in extra de-icing fluid. No, really, I'm not kidding. Flights were delayed at YVR because the airport ran out of de-icing fluid and airlines had to wait for de-icing fluid to be trucked in from Calgary. But the mainstream media and the talk show hosts seemed incapable of discovering that salient fact.

I'm no apologist for Air Canada, God knows they have their challenges, but the criticism they got for the weather delays across the country and most especially in Vancouver was grossly unfair bordering on libel.

And I guess that the media unfairness is what lies at the heart of this rant.

When I was first hired at the Montreal Star in the early '70s, I was taught by then City Editor, John Yorston, the concepts of objectivity in reporting and above all, checking sources and questioning everything. I see little of that anymore in the mainstream media.

Take, for example, a Toronto Star piece published to ring in the New Year. Toronto police Chief Bill Blair was quoted in a story talking about how the murder rate has dropped in that city: "We live in one of the safest metropolitan cities in the world. So, it's bland, it's boring here. Boring is good."

This, from the police chief of the city that had a gang shootout on Boxing Day a couple of years back that took the life of a beautiful, 15 year old girl out shopping with friends. The Jane/Finch area of the city is a virtual "No Go" area for everyone including the police. Crack cocaine and methamphetamine is the currency and guns and bullets are the calling cards.

The city was so "boring" that only a few hours after midnight on New Year's Eve, shots rang out in several parts of the "boring" city. By dawn there were three gunshot victims in area hospitals from separate incidents. And those are only the ones that I know about.

Blair is obviously trying to spin some good news into a public relations win for a police department beleaguered by scandal in recent years. I get that and I get that he would want to do that. But please, neither he nor the Toronto Star should insult the intelligence of the public.

Drugs, guns and shootings are a part of all our major cities in Canada in this day and age and any attempt to minimize that is irresponsible on the part of our police leaders or politicians. The swallowing of the irresponsible spin by the mainstream media is an abdication of their responsibility in what I used to believe was a proud calling.

Leo Knight

primetimecrime@gmail.com

Justice?

2008-12-18T16:15:00.002-08:00

While sitting in the lounge at Toronto's Pearson airport this week I was killing some time reading the only newspaper in this country worth spending some time with: The National Post. And there on page A11 with the slug "Justice" was this story: "Judge banishes teenage car thief from Winnipeg in unique sentence."

Some little piece of human excrement, described as a serial car thief, who cannot be named here because of the $%$$!! stupid YCJA, will be sent away from Winnipeg to spend a term of probation in Yorkton, Sask. The time is to be spent with "family" according to the court. I'll just bet the good burghers of that town are overjoyed at that prospect. Sales of steering wheel locks ought to go up overnight at the local Canadian Tire store.

Everyone associated with the decision is unsure if there will be any effect on the young darling who cannot seem to get through a day without stealing a car. But he isn't likely a disappointment to his family. His family has a collective 180 convictions for auto theft among them. That's convictions, not charges or even police interventions in theft auto files. Convictions.

Now, I don't know about you, but I suspect this is all going to be a waste of time, money and people's efforts who have to try and manage this file in the probation office. I also suspect, and I will give odds, that this waste of good oxygen is going to be arrested in the first 30 days behind the wheel of a stolen car. I will even allow you to hedge your bet by my stating that the arrest will result from a high-speed chase with police.

And that's really the problem here – this little piece of crap, masquerading as a human being, is not being made responsible for his actions. That's offensive to the rest of society and not just the people of Yorkton, Saskatchewan who are about to experience a crime wave courtesy of the Manitoba courts.

The courts simply cannot or will not get their heads around one of the basic principles of sentencing stipulated in the Criminal Code of Canada which is that protection of the public must be a consideration when pronouncing sentence upon a convicted person.

So, let me ask the question: How are the citizens of Yorkton, Saskatchewan being protected by the courts in a sentence where a prolific car thief is given probation and sent to a town in which he does not live, to stay with a family who seem to think auto theft is the family trade?

It's all a mystery to me. Our justice system, were it actually that, should put this little piece of crap in prison for a very long time. Because, in doing that, they would actually protect the good people of Yorkton, Saskatchewan.

And while they were at it, they could send the other members of his family along with him.

Or, as some would say, just shoot the lot and put them out of society's misery.

Leo Knight

primetimecrime@gmail.com

The eyes have it

2008-12-14T22:32:00.008-08:00

Yesterday's announcement by the BC Crown Counsel's office that there would be no criminal charges laid in the tasering of Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanskie should come as no surprise to anyone with the ability to think and analyze what they were able to see with their own eyes in a little over a minute of very available video, broadcast widely on news stations in Canada and on the internet.

I said at the time that the RCMP members who responded to a violent and apparently emotionally and mentally unstable man at Vancouver International Airport did exactly as they were trained to do and now the Crown Counsel has backed up those members.

That Dziekanskie died is sad indeed to those that knew and cared for him. Albeit, the information that has come to light in the intervening time seems to indicate that there were precious few of those.

No indeed, the bloodlust whipped up by the media seems to have been all about their own particular ideology which in general is to play "gotcha" journalism and, in specific, is to attack the actions of the police.

But despite the attempts of the assembled media hounds baying for the blood of the RCMP members in this case, the Crown has made the correct decision and the police officers involved have been vindicated in the actions they took on that fateful night.

But, let's be very clear, every media outlet in this country all but called this an execution of an innocent man at the hands of the police.

And they were wrong, at every level.

The Mounties responded well after Customs and Immigration (now CBSA) dropped the ball, as did airport security, letting an agitated man stew for a dozen hours in a secure area not knowing where to go, what to do, or indeed, how to help himself.

He was plainly visible on their security cameras. They had to see him, time and time again for 12 hours. And yet they did nothing until the behaviour of the nicotine and alcohol-deprived addict became so egregious the police were called.

And, as yet, no one from those organizations has said word one about why they failed in their jobs, preferring to let four young members of the RCMP dangle on the end of a rope not of their creation. And for some strange reason, they have been given a big wide pass by what passes for mainstream journalism in these strange times as the fourth estate aggressively attacks those whose job is to protect us.

The police officers who attended knew they were dealing with an irrational man in an agitated state. They approached him carefully using hand signals to try and calm him. When the man escalated his behaviour they engaged him physically and used a Taser - exactly as they were trained to do.

Complain all you want about the training, the Canadian Border Services Agency, airport security or the media frenzy, but the four members of the RCMP who attended and dealt with Dziekanskie did absolutely nothing wrong and all of the media attempts to appoint them as the bad guys in this movie are shameful.

The videotape tells the truth. The media would have you not believe your eyes and instead believe their whipped up frenzy and bloodlust for the police.

"Who are you going to believe, me or your own eyes?" seemed to be the line of thinking.

The RCMP may be a lot of things and have a lot to answer to the Canadian public as depicted in Paul Palango's masterful work: Dispersing the Fog, but those four members, all since scattered hither and yon by the Force, did their job on that night.

And, as near as I can see, the mainstream media didn't do theirs that night or on any day or night since on this file.

Leo Knight

primetimecrime@gmail.com

The last Rae Day

2008-12-10T21:48:00.002-08:00

As much as he tried to be conciliatory and magnanimous, the angst on the face of Bob Rae as he reluctantly let go of his passionate, all-consuming ambition to be the Prime Minister of Canada was all too evident. And, so too must have been the angst in the boardroom of Power Corp, where Rae's brother, John, is part of the ruling class, oops, sorry, senior management.

But wait, Michael Ignatieff is still part of the ruling elite "entitled to their entitlements" class of the Liberal Party of Canada isn't he? Well, that's a little hard to say. He's been absent from Canada for much of his adult life. On the surface he seems more centrist than the former NDP Premier of Ontario could ever claim to be. And whatever ties to Power Corp. he may have, it seems to be only a friendship to the Raes. Well, so far.

What is clear is that, with the notable exception of Stephen Harper, every Prime Minister in office longer than the time to have a cup of coffee in the past three decades, owes his allegiance to Power Corp. Then, add the likes of Maurice Strong (he of the UN Oil for Food scandal) and Paul Volker (former chair of he US Fed and current Barack Obama advisor) to the mix and their influence – dare I say dominance - over North American government is complete for the last 40 years.

And there's the rub isn't it? There is no ability to control Stephen Harper is there? Oh sure, Brian Mulroney, another Power Corp. alumni, was an adviser in the early days, but that too failed. So how to continue the run? Obviously Harper has to go.

But how? He was just elected a few weeks earlier. Albeit to a minority government as the Libs were reduced to their lowest vote tally in living memory. In the last minority Parliament, Lib leader Stephane Dion supported the Harper government against all of his pet causes in a twisting, hypocritical, mind-numbingly theatrical performance to avoid an election, all the while saying he was against what Harper was doing. It's a wonder his dog, Kyoto, didn't bite him.

No problem apparently though after the next election forced by Harper. The Libs did exactly what they said they would never do and crawled into bed with the NDP and the separatist Bloc. Well, as threesomes go, I doubt there has been another dripping with more sleaze and hypocrisy than that one. Or as Mulroney once mused, "There's no whore like an old whore." And I suppose he is an authority on that subject.

What puzzles me is the concept that Rae, and by extension his supporters, or more accurately, string pullers, tried to peddle that the Governor General had an obvious choice to make if they, the combined opposition, simply said they had no confidence in the sitting government and she should appoint them as the government.

It not only defies logic, and law and tradition, but speaks to the unadulterated ego and sense of entitlement possessed by the Liberal Party of Canada. That Jack and Gilles jumped on the train is really of no import. Neither will ever get close to the Prime Minister's office in any way, shape or form save and except as an invited visitor. Canadians, as apathetic as they can be in their "I'm all right Jack" existence, would never be so stupid as to let them close to the levers of power. So Layton signed on to his only shot and is still trying to milk out the dry udder of that cow while Duceppe is still sniggering at the door those idiots opened for him and the separatists.

And at the end of the last Rae-Day, the worst Premier Ontario has ever seen will not have the opportunity to become the worst Prime Minister Canada has ever seen. His brother, John Rae, who ran the campaigns of Jean Chretien and is a central, dominating part of the power brokers of Power Corp. will not have a direct pipeline into the Prime Minister's office.

Or will he?

Leo Knight

primetimecrime@gmail.com

The world according to the CBC

2008-12-08T23:39:00.001-08:00

I should know better. But I watched the CBC National news tonight. I know, I know, but there really wasn't much else on.

For the first time since, uh, I don't know when, I screamed at my television.

The CBC ran a piece of journalistic tripe about the war in Afghanistan with the marking of the 100^th Canadian soldier killed in action in that troubled part of the world. The absolute bias was prevalent in the piece. They found two families of soldiers killed in Afghanistan and a peace activist who has written a book to present an anti-war point of view that had not a hint of balance or, dare I say, common sense.

Without disparaging the families of the brave men who died in the service of this country, I couldn't help but get angry at the mother of one soldier who said she was okay with her son being a peacekeeper but didn't want him shooting at someone. Honestly, she said that.

And then the intellectually-challenged man married to her criticized the mission we are on in some weird attempt to say Canada has done its bit for NATO and we should leave without addressing the job that is not yet done against the Taliban and the forces of evil who are trying to destroy our very way of life.

Now, I grieve along with every other Canadian for the death of every man and woman who is killed in the line of duty in the service of this country. But, it is disingenuous to the extreme to suggest that if we simply bail on Afghanistan life will be alright. The harsh reality for all the group huggers is that we, the West, have got to engage in a shooting war with the forces of Islam who are trying to eliminate our way of life. There is no other way to look at the so-called War on Terror. And best that war be conducted in a place far away from our shores.

********************************

It's been awhile since I have posted and for those who have written wondering why, suffice to say it has been an extremely busy period for me given that, in addition to my day job and other writing projects, I advise two CFL clubs on matters of security and November was the playoff season. One of the clubs I work with won the Grey Cup and it was a pure joy to bear witness, at close quarters, to their victory.

To those of you who enjoy my musings I pledge I will be more forthcoming in the next while. To those that hate what I say, I will try to say more than ever.

Leo Knight

primetimecrime@gmail.com

None of the above

2008-10-31T10:21:00.006-07:00

I don't have a dog in this fight. And if ever there was an election that screamed out for a None of the Above selection on the ballot, it is this Presidential election in the USA.

A few days ago I was speaking with a waitress in the hotel lounge I was staying at in Calgary and she struck up a conversation on the book I was reading - The War Within by Bob Woodward.

It seems she is a young idealistic economics student at the University of Calgary. She asked me what I thought about the US election and I stated the above. She asked what I didn't like about Barack Obama and I said that in my view he hasn't said much about what he would do save and except for mouthing a bunch of empty rhetoric and the usual socialist tripe about raising the minimum wage and creating the conditions for more unionization in America.

She seemed appalled and said well, what about what George Bush and the Republicans have done to the economy? I replied that the current economic meltdown had very little to do with Bush and was almost exclusively the responsibility of former President Bill Clinton.

Well, she looked as though someone had just drowned her puppy. She then said that's not what her professors taught at university. Which, of course, caused me to pass several ounces of a perfectly potable Australian Shiraz out of my nose.

So patiently, I explained, after I had cleaned up the table in front of me, that universities in Canada and the US, with all but a very few exceptions are bastions of political correctness and socialist dogma and of course they wouldn't teach anything but what fits their socialist version of reality.

Well, with a few taps on the IPhone I unearthed several articles in places like the Wall Street Journal and Investor's Business Daily that proved my point. She then got mad, as she should have, at her profs and said they should be teaching the truth. Ah yes, got it in one my dear. But neither our institutes of higher learning nor the mainstream media can see past their dogmatic idealism.

In Toronto this morning, I watched the all-Obama news channel formerly known as CNN. They've already got this guy elected and were breathlessly talking about who might be his Chief of Staff and possible cabinet appointments. Well Obama may well be the President-elect come Wednesday morning or, as in the last two elections, the MSM may have gotten it wrong. But whatever happens, this election has clearly shown that both sides need to work harder to find better candidates.

Leo Knight

primetimecrime@gmail.com

*For those of you who are interested in the original piece written by Terry Jones for the Investor's Business Daily which is a subscription site, I have found a discussion board with the original article posted. You can read it here: http://www.curezone.com/forums/fm.asp?i=1266142

The Lesser of Two Weasels

2008-10-11T10:33:00.003-07:00

I have had about all the stomach-churning rhetoric and blatent nonsense I can handle in this election campaign.

The economy in the USA, Iceland, Japan and many other parts of the world is in the toilet and circling the drain. NDP leader Jack Layton and Liberal Stephane Dion can only scream "Why isn't the Prime Minister doing something?" Well, what exactly isn't made clear.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper has not panicked and knee-jerked his way into doing something for the sake of appearing to be doing something. That's what a leader does. A leader does not panic.

While I abhor some of the things the Harper government has done, or not done as the case may be, one cannot say he has been reckless, which seems to be what the lefty weasels are demanding.

Now, I know for certain that Dion's Green Shift is a pack of stuff and nonsense. But clearly, if it was stuff and nonsense a month ago, with the market meltdown, it is unadulterated stupidity now. But, Dion continues to say a Liberal government will adopt this in its first budget.

This is beyond reckless given the market situation, this is economic suicide. Follow me here. The so-called Green Shift, the term in itself was stolen without the permission of the owner of the name, is touted to be revenue neutral because carbon taxes placed upon carbon emitters would be offset by income tax reductions.

Okay. But if the carbon tax is designed to incent the carbon emitters to emit less doesn't that also follow that that leads to paying less? And if they are paying less and the income tax reduction is not recinded, isn't that a recipe for deficit budgets? Well, you know it is, and I know it is. But that 's because we can actually think something through. And, of course, this simple concept doesn't deal with the inflationary result because increasing costs on business means business has to reflect that cost on their price to the end user. Simple economics.

But, apparently not simple enough for the critical thinkers who pull the strings on the most corrupt political party this country has ever had endure. And, if you doubt the accuracy of that statement please purchase Paul Palango's new book: "Dispersing the Fog" and get back to me after you've digested it.

But simple economics seems to elude the other weasel as well, Jack Layton. I may climb a clock tower with a rifle if I hear the phrase "working family" or "corporate welfare" again. Is Layton so devoid of ideas that he must resort to the 1974 election campaign speeches of David Lewis who coined the phrase "corporate welfare bums?" Layton's stated policy of eliminating the so-called "$50 billion" in corporate tax cuts enacted by the Stephen Harper minority government may be ideologically sound with the ideological unsound on the political left, but it doesn't make any sense in the real world. I don't care how you paint it, if government raises the cost to business of anything, then business must, by definition, pass that cost onto its customers which of course, means the buying public. And that is true whether we are talking about oil companines, or financial institutions or the Ma and Pop corner grocery store.

Why would any political leader with any concept of reality want to add to the financial burden of the average Canadian family at this point in time with the American economy in free-fall and our economic times so uncertain? Notice I didn't use the term "working family" and instead used "average Canadian." The NDP seems to think the only people who "work" are single moms and union members. Weasel the Lesser should try and see how hard people like you and I work to pay our taxes, our bills and try and keep a few shekels out of the hands of the government thieves for a rainy day.

The concept of a Dion government or a coalition Dion/Layton government is frightening at best and downright disastrous at worst. Whatever one may think of Stephen Harper, he is, at least, a true leader and a careful steward of the country. The choice on October 14 is either Stephen Harper or the lesser of two weasels.

Leo Knight

primetimecrime@gmail.com

Tilting at windmills with effect

2008-09-28T23:04:00.002-07:00

I have just finished reading an advance copy of Paul Palango's new book: entitled Dispersing the Fog: Inside the Secret World of Ottawa and the RCMP.

Palango, who is no stranger to anyone interested in the RCMP and the problems that have befallen this national icon, walks the reader through a series of cases that have dominated the news headlines. From the Mahar Arar debacle through Project Sidewinder and up to the murder of the Mayerthorpe Four, Palango looks carefully at the reasons the RCMP keeps taking it on the chin.

But it is so much more than a look inside the travails of Canada's national police force. It is really an examination behind the scenes and the politicization of the RCMP to suit the needs of the real power behind the throne in Canada and he lays bare the systemic corruption that has everything to do with power and money for a small group and little or nothing to do with what is right for the country.

Palango methodically strips away the layers of obfuscation and lays bare the fabric of lies that ultimately ensures the RCMP can never be what Canada really needs of our national police force.

I have long described the RCMP as 133 years of tradition unhampered by progress and Palango nails it as he takes the reader on a roller coaster ride through some of the biggest headlines of the last decade.

The book, published by Key Porter Books, will be in bookstores in early November. If you care about Canada, read this book. Palango takes the reader inside the corridors of power and shines a light on the cockroaches that inhabit them.

The RCMP have already begun discreet inquiries to try and determine who may have given Palango information used in this book. And that, in and of itself, illustrates what is wrong with the Force. They are a fundamentally flawed, dysfunctional organization. Instead of trying to fix their myriad of issues outlined by Palango, they initiated a witch-hunt to find out who let the cat out of the bag.

Palango has done a significant service to the country with his work on this book. He should receive the Order of Canada for his efforts. Instead, I fear he will be attacked mercilessly for his efforts by those who believe they are entitled to their entitlements.

Wait for it, unfortunately.

Leo Knight

primetimecrime@gmail.com

An affront to the brave

2008-09-14T13:50:00.001-07:00

Being Canadian means having to accept stupidity disguised as political correctness.

I have spent much of this week on planes moving between Alberta and BC and back and forth. I was making my way at Calgary Airport to the baggage carrousal the other day and I watched a number of soldiers in battle fatigues clearing security on their way to the front lines of the war on terror being waged by extreme Islamist thugs against western democracies.

In the same week as an addle-brained spokesman for the Taliban claimed they were targetting Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan deliberately in order to have an effect on the current federal election campaign, I watched as our soldiers were being subjected to physical searches by CATSA security guards with names like Ali and Mahmoud. The female baggage screener wore a Muslim head scarf.

There was something wholly incongruous and hypocritical about what I saw.

I harbour no illusions about the efficacy of airport security in Canada. There is no doubt is it little more than an expensive pantomine to create the illusion of security for the travelling public in the post-9/11 world. But, really, couldn't we really add some actual effect to the illusion?

And I have to admit that it just pissed me off to watch a Canadian soldier who has been security cleared to a level the CATSA guard could never aspire to, being searched, in combat uniform, before getting on a plane to defend this country from the religious zealots who threaten the world and are connected by faith to the very guards supposedly protecting our flying public.

Never mind Sharia and the male dominance over the female of the species, how is it possible that political correctness can trump security in this day and age?

It's an an absolute mystery and an affront to those soldiers in combat uniform heading to a war zone who had to submit to the searches.

I was ashamed to be Canadian as I watched the scene. Unfortunately, it was not the first time.

Leo Knight
primetimecrime@gmail.com

- Leo Knight on Blackberry

Spin bears no relation to the truth

2008-09-09T22:36:00.000-07:00

Well, election madness is upon us, whether we wanted it or not. And one of the things we know inherently is that we are about to be subjected to spin on an unprecedented scale.

I received this email yesterday that I thought worth sharing with you. I thought it particularly poignant.

Hi Leo,

I just watched a local news station do a story on the dirty politics between Stephane Dion and the conservative government. They actually said that Dion wanted to "increase" the restrictions on several kinds of firearms, "including the type that was used in the Montreal Dawson College shooting." Then the story ends and they go on with the next really quickly to a service for those who recently lost their lives in the CF.

What many people don't already know is that at the time that massacre occurred, those Beretta Storm's were restricted firearms. Now they are already prohibited, at least according to my local gun store. As are all bullpup arms. So how can they increase any further restrictions on a prohibited firearm?

This upsets me because they don't bother to explain to the public the difference between non-restricted, restricted, and prohibited. They just use an angle that serves their purpose -- at the shameful expense of those victims.

I would greatly appreciate it if you could do a blog entry on firearms and this liberal spin thats been going through the news and schools. Criminals don't get guns by going through the RCMP, they illegally import them, or steal them from registered lawful owners because of the registry itself. Granted, handguns have been registered for decades, but this longarm registry needs to go -- and besides, you can't hide a 44" to 48" rifle in your pants. There are big lists by the NRA using real statistics to show that its better for us to be a lawfully armed society. They show that as criminals are more comfortable with the idea that you are not armed, crime increases. And saying that guns kill people is like saying spoons made Oprah fat. If there weren't guns and people were so dead-set on killing, there would be knives, and thats already a problem. But a person who thinks of pulling a knife on a lawful citizen who might have a carry licence would think several times before doing something stupid. You can sort in a list the States in an increasing order of gun control, and they are nearly the same states with the same order of increasing crime. That should speak volumes, but the majority of people in Canada don't recognize that each state have set their own laws, and the states where people are allowed to carry, there is virtually zero crime.

I do agree that in Canada there should remain laws about concealed weapons. We should be a shall-carry instead of a may-carry society, and wear it proudly on our hip as a symbol of lawfulness. But for whatever reason they think we'll have shootouts and high noon duelings, even though dueling (with guns or swords) has been illegal for a very long time. That is, mutually agreeing to a fight without fists. Mutual agreement of any public display of violence should be against the law, and it is in regards to disturbing the peace. But we get youtube's of schoolyard fights and the person who never wanted to fight at all has to save face and pretend it was ok on camera.

The "40 reasons for gun control" posted around the magazines, people don't see that it was written as a criticism for gun control. You have probably seen it around but if you haven't I'll attach it below for your own humour.

Thank you very much for reading,
I enjoy reading you,
Jay Demmery

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
40 Reasons For Gun Control
Significant portions of this article are excerpted from Michael Z. Williamson's excellent and witty piece, "It's amazing what one has to believe to believe in gun control"
1. Banning guns works, which is why New York, DC, & Chicago cops need guns.

2. Washington DC's low murder rate of 69 per 100,000 is due to strict gun control, and Indianapolis' high murder rate of 9 per 100,000 is due to the lack of gun control.

3. Statistics showing high murder rates justify gun control but statistics showing increasing murder rates after gun control are "just statistics."

4. The Brady Bill and the Assault Weapons Ban, both of which went into effect in 1994 are responsible for the decrease in violent crime rates, which have been declining since 1991.

5. We must get rid of guns because a deranged lunatic may go on a shooting spree at any time and anyone who would own a gun out of fear of such a lunatic is paranoid.

6. The more helpless you are the safer you are from criminals.

7. An intruder will be incapacitated by tear gas or oven spray, but if shot with a .357 Magnum will get angry and kill you.

8. A woman raped and strangled is morally superior to a woman with a smoking gun and a dead rapist at her feet.

9. When confronted by violent criminals, you should "put up no defense -- give them what they want, or run" (Handgun Control Inc. Chairman Pete Shields, Guns Don't Die - People Do, 1981, p.125).

10. The New England Journal of Medicine is filled with expert advice about guns; just like Guns & Ammo has some excellent treatises on heart surgery.

11. One should consult an automotive engineer for safer seatbelts, a civil engineer for a better bridge, a surgeon for internal medicine, a computer programmer for hard drive problems, and Sarah Brady for firearms expertise.

12. The 2nd Amendment, ratified in 1787, refers to the National Guard, which was created 130 years later, in 1917.

13. The National Guard, federally funded, with bases on federal land, using federally-owned weapons, vehicles, buildings and uniforms, punishing trespassers under federal law, is a "state" militia.

14. These phrases: "right of the people peaceably to assemble," "right of the people to be secure in their homes," "enumerations herein of certain rights shall not be construed to disparage others retained by the people," and "The powers not delegated herein are reserved to the states respectively, and to the people" all refer to individuals, but "the right of the people to keep and bear arm" refers to the state.

15. "The Constitution is strong and will never change." But we should ban and seize all guns thereby violating the 2nd, 4th, and 5th Amendments to that Constitution.

16. Rifles and handguns aren't necessary to national defense! Of course, the army has hundreds of thousands of them.

17. Private citizens shouldn't have handguns, because they aren't "military weapons", but private citizens shouldn't have "assault rifles", because they are military weapons.

18. In spite of waiting periods, background checks, finger printing, government forms, etc., guns today are too readily available, which is responsible for recent school shootings. In the 1940's, 1950's and1960's, anyone could buy guns at hardware stores, army surplus stores, gas stations, variety stores, Sears mail order, no waiting, no background check, no fingerprints, no government forms and there were no school shootings.

19. The NRA's attempt to run a "don't touch" campaign about kids handling guns is propaganda, but the anti-gun lobby's attempt to run a "don't touch" campaign is responsible social activity.

20. Guns are so complex that special training is necessary to use them properly, and so simple to use that they make murder easy.

21. A handgun, with up to 4 controls, is far too complex for the typical adult to learn to use, as opposed to an automobile that only has 20.

22. Women are just as intelligent and capable as men but a woman with a gun is "an accident waiting to happen" and gun makers' advertisements aimed at women are "preying on their fears."

23. Ordinary people in the presence of guns turn into slaughtering butchers but revert to normal when the weapon is removed.

24. Guns cause violence, which is why there are so many mass killings at gun shows.

25. A majority of the population supports gun control, just like a majority of the population supported owning slaves.

26. Any self-loading small arm can legitimately be considered to be a "weapon of mass destruction" or an "assault weapon."

27. Most people can't be trusted, so we should have laws against guns, which most people will abide by because they can be trusted.

28. The right of Internet pornographers to exist cannot be questioned because it is constitutionally protected by the Bill of Rights, but the use of handguns for self defense is not really protected by the Bill of Rights.

29. Free speech entitles one to own newspapers, transmitters, computers, and typewriters, but self-defense only justifies bare hands.

30. The ACLU is good because it uncompromisingly defends certain parts of the Constitution, and the NRA is bad, because it defends other parts of the Constitution.

31. Charlton Heston, a movie actor as president of the NRA is a cheap lunatic who should be ignored, but Michael Douglas, a movie actor as a representative of Handgun Control, Inc. is an ambassador for peace who is entitled to an audience at the UN arms control summit.

32. Police operate with backup within groups, which is why they need larger capacity pistol magazines than do "civilians" who must face criminals alone and therefore need less ammunition.

33. We should ban "Saturday Night Specials" and other inexpensive guns because it's not fair that poor people have access to guns too.

34. Police officers have some special Jedi-like mastery over hand guns that private citizens can never hope to obtain.

35. Private citizens don't need a gun for self-protection because the police are there to protect them even though the Supreme Court says the police are not responsible for their protection.

36. Citizens don't need to carry a gun for personal protection but police chiefs, who are desk-bound administrators who work in a building filled with cops, need a gun.

37. "Assault weapons" have no purpose other than to kill large numbers of people. The police need assault weapons. You do not.

38. When Microsoft pressures its distributors to give Microsoft preferential promotion, that's bad; but when the Federal government pressures cities to buy guns only from Smith & Wesson, that's good.

39. Trigger locks do not interfere with the ability to use a gun for defensive purposes, which is why you see police officers with one on their duty weapon.

40. Handgun Control, Inc. says they want to "keep guns out of the wrong hands." Guess what? You have the wrong hands.

A day late and a dollar short

2008-09-01T18:55:00.003-07:00

I was sent a web link today to a recently launched website disturbingly critical of the Calgary Police Service. I looked at the website and am very troubled not only by the content, but by the fact they have linked primetimecrime.com as though we are somehow a part of this vitriolic diatribe.

For the record, primetimecrime.com has absolutely nothing to do with www.calgarypoliceinfo.com and I fervently decry any connection to anyone who would dare to publish such a site unsupported by evidence.

In looking at the information published, little seems new. Rather, it all appears to be a regurgitation of things that happened on former chief Jack Beaton's watch. Beaton deserved to be criticized and I wasn't shy doing just that. But he has retired and there is a new Chief Constable. And the new Chief Constable seems, to this observer at least, to be making a lot of right moves.

No police department is perfect and no one should expect perfection of the Calgary Police Service. But, since the departure of Jack Beaton and the installation of Rick Hanson as Chief, the CPS is in the best shape it has been in since the early 90's.

I don't know who or what is behind the publication of the website but I can suggest that whoever it is is still fighting a battle that is long since over. He or she just doesn't seem to realize that simple truth.

There were a great many reasons to criticize the CPS under Jack Beaton. The current effort seems to be a day late and a dollar short.

Leo Knight

primetimecrime@gmail.com

Business as usual for the Godfather of the House

2008-08-31T20:15:00.003-07:00

What really amazes me is that even in disgrace, former Liberal cabinet minister, Quebec party bagman and quite possibly the most corrupt politician this country has ever seen, Alfonso Gagliano, was able to extract a $500,000 loan from an obscure arm of the federal government called Farm Credit Canada to buy a vineyard, apparently.

Gagliano was the central figure in the Adscam debacle which ultimately undid two Liberal Prime Ministers, though both deny that essential and plainly obviously fact. He was also named by FBI snitch and career mobster Frank Lino, as a "made" guy and member of the Bonnano crime family.

Is it true? I don't know. But I do know that he had much to cozy a relationship with Augustino Cuntrera when he was the accountant for some companies of the family dubbed the "Rothchilds of the Mafia." He was also a founding member, along with Cuntrera, and on the executive of a "club" called the Siculiana / Cattolica Eraclea Society in the 90's. I also know that Lino had no reason to lie at that point.

Gagliano came out denying it all in the media claiming Italian discrimination. Really, it's all a plot against the Italians. He threatened a lawsuit, but none was forthcoming. One suspects that was because he could never allow himself to be cross-examined on the question. Unlike our Human Rights kangaroo courts - oops sorry - tribunals, in civil court the truth is an absolute defence.

Well, the "Godfather" of Parliament no longer has his "walk and talks" out behind the Parliamentary library as he smokes his cigars. But apparently, he is still able to reach into the bowels of government and extract his "taste" as needed.

Leo Knight

primetimecrime.gmail.com

Under-support equals under achievement

2008-08-27T13:48:00.004-07:00

Well, now that the summer’s over it must be time to get back at it. Summer’s end also marks the end of the Beijing Olympic Games.

While I was on vacation I posted a quick hitter suggesting that Canada’s efforts in these Summer Games was less than stellar. I got accused of being everything from a fascist – although that one’s not particularly new – to being anti-Canadian.

I thought that one was a bit rich. Are we supposed to live in this over-taxed, under-achieving nation of naval gazers, this land of two founding notions and say everything is fine lest we be accused of being anti-Canadian?

What did we do at the Olympics? Sure there were some great individual achievements. I stayed up very late one evening enraptured by the race Simon Whitfield ran in the Triathalon. And the women’s diving was outstanding especially with the silver won by Emilie Heymans.

And then there was Priscilla Lopes-Schliep winning Bronze in the women’s 100 metre hurdles – outstanding. The race for the gold medal captured by the men’s eight in rowing, the heavyweight event of the Olympic regatta, was gripping.

But realistically, our federal government contributed a grand total of $8 million to our Olympic effort. It’s going to double for the next games. Big whoop. Australia, a country of similar size and GDP spends over ten times that. Oh, and they won 46 medals in this Olympics compared to our 18. In fact they won nearly as many Gold medals as we did medals.

The media was crowing about our total of 18 medals, of them, only three were gold. We are a G-8 nation people. Go take a look at how other G-8 countries like Australia or the UK did.

Face it, we are a nation of under-achievers. Caspar Milquetoast on valium. And, I should add, that is not our heritage. It is what we have allowed ourselves to become. We are a product of a system where our children are taught by the trendy-lefties dominant in the school system that it’s good enough just to show up, that we are all equal, that everyone who participates gets a ribbon or a medal or a trophy. Of course that is absolute nonsense.

But nonetheless, that is what we are allowing the socialist suckholes teaching our kids to do. While it may protect the feelings of some fat kid who can’t see past his next Twinkie, it does nothing to prepare the next generation for what awaits them in life, let alone instill in them the competitive fire in the belly necessary to be the best in the world.

If we want to be the best in the world, or at least be competitive with the best in the world, we must remove the barriers for our athletes. We cannot keep them living like paupers as they bow and scrape to some butthead bureaucrat to get a few crumbs from what should be a heavily laden table.

Some of the members of the Canadian Olympic team did absolutely outstanding things in these Games and for that they are to be cheered and their achievements celebrated. But they were able to achieve because they are outstanding people who understand what it takes to be among the best in the world and that it simply isn’t good enough just to show up. Their stories are the lessons our children should be taught. I don’t think that is anti-Canadian. Wanting our country to achieve more is pro-Canada and accepting mediocrity is not.

This isn't about our athletes underperforming, it is about the country underperforming in support our athletes are not given.

Leo Knight
primetimecrime@gmail.com

Truly Canadian....

2008-08-13T18:06:00.001-07:00

I'm on holidays on the East Coast, golfing during the day and basking in the liquid sunshine that seems to define this Maritime summer.

In the evening I must confess to succumbing to my masochistic side by watching Canada at the Olympics in the Totalitarian People"s Republic of China.

At this point it seems that American swimmer Michael Phelps will get more gold medals than our whole Olympic team.

We are a nation that accepts mediocrity. Our broadcast on the the Canadian Broadcorsting Castration is sponsored by the Chicken Farmers of Canada.

I'm trying to get my head around what could possibly be more embarassing. It's not coming....

Leo Knight
Primetimecrime@gmail.com
- Leo Knight on Blackberry

True to form, released murderer reoffends

2008-07-07T05:11:00.004-07:00

There is no doubt that the justice system in Canada is fundamentally flawed. But every now and again, a case that perfectly illustrates the fact comes to light.

And so it is with a story out of Winnipeg about the exploits of an utter waste of skin named Martin Junior Hayden who for 32 years has been a boil on the butt of society.

In July 2000 Hayden and two other equally talented knobs attacked 33-year-old George Terrence Monias. They invaded his home, beat him with fire extinguishers and one of the idiots, Valentino Ben Harper, dropped a fifty-pound (20 kg) television on Monias’ head as he lay supine.

Needless to say, Monias died as a result of the attack. In the first demonstration of a justice system gone wrong, Hayden was allowed to plead guilty to manslaughter. He was given a mere eight years in prison. That was the second demonstration of how badly the system is broken.

The killing of Monias was planned and deliberate and those involved should have been charged and convicted of first degree murder. The sentence then would have been life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years.

But no, this is Canada and we must give every opportunity to thugs.

So, after serving two-thirds of his sentence, Hayden was released. And, being the thug that he is, it only took a matter of a few days before he very nearly killed someone else and evidently, for no apparent reason.

At three o’clock in the morning Hayden confronted a 34-year-old man walking down a Winnipeg street with a woman. Hayden and his fellow traveler that night, Michael James Butson, a 31-year-old waste of good oxygen, began assaulting the man and when the woman tried to intervene to stop the attack, she was beaten too.

The male victim was rushed to hospital and luckily for all involved, they saved his life. Unluckily for Hayden and Butson, they were promptly tracked down and arrested by Winnipeg police. They spent the weekend at Winnipeg Remand.

Unfortunately they won’t be there for long I’d wager. Despite everything, there is little doubt they will get bail pending their trial. You see, in this demented Dominion it is very hard to go to jail. And even when you do go there, Corrections Canada does their level best to ensure you get out as quick as possible.

Leo Knight

primetimecrime@gmail.com

Judicial hypocrisy continues to offend

2008-06-27T07:17:00.004-07:00

O, hypocrisy, thy name is Justice. Or at least it should be.

In the same week, and very nearly on the same day, three different arms of what passes for justice in this disturbed Dominion made decisions which are as hypocritical as they are mired in either political correctness run amok or systemic corruption. You pick.

The first and perhaps most offensive is the decision of the BC Supreme Court issued yesterday saying that Crown prosecutors are protected from testifying about their decision to allow bail to an actual killer and that they weren’t protected in testifying about why they decided not to lay charges in the case of an aboriginal man, Frank Paul, who died of exposure after being released from the Vancouver Police drunk tank.

Unbelievable. What kind of leaps in mental gymnastics must Mr. Justice Thomas Melnick have made to arrive at this conclusion? To paraphrase a rather unfortunate MP who chose a curious way of pointing out a hypocritical cabinet minister, the judge can’t suck and blow at the same time.

This is a simple question: Are members the Crown Prosecutor’s office compellable as witnesses to explain their decisions or are they not?

Mr. Justice Melnick seems to have decided that if the potential accused is a police officer, or as in this case, two, they are compellable. But if the individual is a wife beating lunatic who is released on bail when any sane system would have opposed bail, who then goes on to kill his whole family, well, then they aren’t compellable. Presumably because they might have to actually explain why the justice system in this country is an absolute failure.

Or has political correctness reared its ugly head? Frank Paul was an aboriginal man and the family slaughter was committed by a man who was ethnically Chinese. Or is Mr. Justice Melnick simply prejudiced against the police? Either is a possibility for I cannot see any legal justification for making Crown compellable in one case but not another.

And then there is Mr. Justice Max Teitelbaum, a retired judge of the Federal Court who is still working. He has found a way to ignore the incredibly obvious.

He actually struck down a finding by Mr. justice John Gomery following his well-publicized inquiry into the Liberal Party of Canada diverting advertising funds into the hands of their friends in business and laundering a portion of those funds back into their own coffers by way of donations.

You can spell corruption any way you want, but the rotting fish still stinks from the head first. Gomery merely stated the obvious. Adscam was only a piece of it. What about the Billion Dollar Boondoggle. (Actually nearly four billion but why quibble over a name?) Project Sidewinder and the subsequent whitewash to protect the Liberal pals in China. Someone remind me, where is Maurice Strong living now after he got caught with his hand in the Oil for Food scandal? Oh yeah, right, he found sanctuary in the People’s Republic of China. Oh and that’s long before we talk about Chretien’s chief Quebec Lieutenant, the disgraced former Minister of Public Works Alfonso Gagliano.

Welcome to the political toilet that masquerades as a proper Western democracy.

And just for laughs there is the story about the two lesbians who appeared drunk and were definitely obnoxious who showed up at the appearance of comedian Guy Earle. They disrupted his performance in a drunken, obnoxious manner and so, being a stand-up comedian, Earle engaged them head on.

What did he get for his trouble? The hate-seeking misses went directly to the BC Human Right folks to say they were offended. Well, boo-hoo! You can’t start something then be offended. Or more accurately, you can’t start a battle of wits when you are unarmed then whine because you were beaten.

And the BC Human Rights hand-wringers are actually taking the complaint which is going to cost Earle big bucks to defend himself and what about the obnoxious lesbians? Not a farthing. Nope, the good taxpayer of BC will fork over all of the cost for their right to be obnoxious and disturb everyone around them and not be held to account.

That offends me.

Leo Knight
primetimecrime@gmail.com

It's the little things that matter most

2008-06-22T21:19:00.001-07:00

For those folks who have wondered where I have been in the past couple of weeks, I took a break and went down to the desert in Arizona to do a little golfing. Well, more accurately, a lot of golfing.

And one of the things that really struck me in the Phoenix area this trip was the cleanliness and the efficiency of their road system and their traffic enforcement.

The first day I arrived, I was driving from the airport on one of the freeways when I noticed a flash of light in the opposite direction. At the merge point of an entrance to the freeway was a bank of cameras looking at oncoming traffic with strategically placed strobes and cameras to capture the rear license plate of vehicles caught doing something outside the parameters of what is allowable.

Interesting, I thought. In various jurisdictions in Canada we have tried photo radar and it always required a manned vehicle to set up, program, monitor and take down the system. Yet, here was a completely unmanned system, permanently installed causing people to follow the rule of law. In Canada, it wouldn’t last a week before someone would shoot it up or otherwise render it inoperable.

A couple of days later, while walking to a restaurant in Scottsdale, I noticed a red light camera set up at the intersection of Shea Blvd and Scottsdale Road, both major arterials. But unlike the red light cameras we use in British Columbia this one was not high up, but at arm’s length.

In the Greater Vancouver area, at best, about 30% of the red light cameras are fully functional at any given time. Yet in Arizona, with its liberal gun laws and Wild West image, the devices were not only wholly undamaged, but installed at a height that almost anyone could literally reach up and touch them.

The streets were clean and devoid of litter, overgrowth and dust. In Vancouver, which is getting ready to host the 2010 Olympics, I noticed this morning while on my way to the airport, heading to the Centre of the Universe, that freeway ramps were overgrown, concrete medians had weeds growing through and everywhere on my drive from North Vancouver to Richmond was visible litter and a general unkempt appearance.

Vancouver, which clamors for the tag “World Class,” is fast becoming class-less. Abandoned vehicles abound. On most streets one can see the residue of broken car windows done to sustain the habits of junkies and meth-heads that we simply will not say belong in jail.

In Phoenix, they have Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arapoia, who treats criminals like criminals and tells them if they don’t like it in his jails, then they should behave so they won’t come back.

In Canada, where it is particularly difficult to do something egregious enough to actually get sent to jail, we do everything we can help the poor unfortunate thieves, dope dealers, murderers and rapists see the error of their ways in the vain hope they might return to society a valued and contributing member. And while that may be a worthwhile endeavor the first time or two through the system, we do it time after time after time after time after time.

Breach your bail conditions? No problem, here’s a couple more conditions. Breach Probation? That’s alright, have some more probation. Breach parole? That’s okay, we’ll work harder with you to help you become a nice contributing taxpayer.

In the 70’s and 80’s New York City was a frightening place, with upwards of three homicides a day, a cynical police force rife with corruption and organized crime acting as though they ran things and were untouchable.

Rudy Giuliani got elected Mayor in the early 90’s and espousing the “Broken Windows” concept of crime reduction, he literally cleaned up the city and made it one of the safest large cities, not only in the USA, but in the world.

Broken Windows was all about going after the bad guys for everything – jaywalk, here’s a ticket. Break into a car, you are under arrest. Breach bail conditions, go to Rikers. It was all about tough enforcement of the law and consequences for actions regardless of the seriousness of the offence.

But it was also about fixing things up so there was a standard of order, no broken windows (hence the name), no graffiti, no burned out or abandoned vehicles. Clean and safe streets was not only the goal of Giuliani, but the demand.

I saw the same results that New York achieved in Phoenix. Unfortunately, I see nothing of the kind in Canada.

Leo Knight
primetimecrime@gmail.com

Cardboard cut-ups

2008-06-07T06:49:00.003-07:00

The new Vancouver Police initiative to use cardboard life-size cut outs (Police unveil cardboard cops) of a traffic officer in full regalia replete with a handheld radar gun along the Knight St. corridor is creative, I will say that.

One wonders how long it will be before the first ones go missing, the target of a college prank or to decorate a dope dealer's smoking room? Or indeed, how long until the gang bangers start tossing rounds from a nine as they scoot by in their high-powered cars?

Knowing how well these tattooed half-wits shoot, I wouldn't want to live in a home behind one of the cardboard cops.

There's no question that the Knight Street corridor is the most dangerous in Vancouver for the number of motor vehicle accidents that occur along it. And, there's also no question that more traffic enforcement initiatives need to be deployed to combat the carnage. But cardboard cops? This is a joke, right?

Leo Knight

primetimecrime@gmail.com

The hypocrisy of the higher moral ground

2008-05-31T23:48:00.004-07:00

Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier’s public humiliation became complete with his resignation this week for being careless with cabinet level briefing papers that he evidently left at his former girlfriend’s home. Was that stupid? Oh, absolutely and undeniably. And he has paid forfeit with his job. And that is as it should be.

But the sanctimonious bleating by the Liberal Opposition is really wearing a little thin. No, more than a little thin.

The femme fatale in this sordid and tawdry movie, Julie Couillard, is basking in her 15 minutes of fame. It seems rather career, if not life-threatening to engage in any meaningful intimate association with this Black Dahlia. But all of that notwithstanding, the spectre of any Liberal MP barking about the risk to National Security considering the ties to the Libs of all manner of dodgy people they were happy to stand shoulder to shoulder with is not only absurd but insulting.

Where does one start?

Consider the demands that Mme. Coulliard should have been vetted by the Mounties before Bernier’s ill-advised dalliance. Uh, excuse me, but didn’t the RCMP try and stop the appointment of since-disgraced Minister of Public Works and ultimately Ambassador, Alfonso Gagliano to Executive Council because of his direct ties to members of Italian organized crime? And didn’t the powers that be in then Prime Minister Jean Chretien’s office ignore those warnings, much to their ultimate chagrin?

Gagliano always tried to dispute his connections to organized crime figures as co-incidental and the Liberal Party of Canada struck out against those who tried to tell the truth as anti-Italian and whatever racist allegation of the day that might stick.

Well whatever. Gagliano and Augustino Cuntrera (and indeed, all of the Caruana / Cuntrera familigia are from the same village in Sicily and they were successive leaders of the Siculiana – Cattolica Eraclea Society in Montreal. Any pretense of coincidence is insulting.

But the salient point is that despite the warnings from the RCMP and the initial refusal to grant him clearance for appointment to Executive Council, the RCMP acquiesced. Was the Force strong-armed by someone in the PMO? I don’t know, but I will leave you to formulate your own opinion.

Then there’s the holier-than-thou Bob Rae who may well go down in history as the worst premier in Ontario history, screaming and burbling about interference from the PMO.

Hmmmm, one of the worst scandals in this country’s history is the handling of Project Sidewinder and the political interference – dare I say cover up – by officials in senior levels of the government of Canada. And Rae, who undoubtedly needed a job to suckle from the public tit after being summarily tossed from office in a sudden and decidedly rare moment of clarity by the voting public in Ontario, was a member of SIRC, the handsomely paid civilian oversight committee of CSIS that reviewed the file and in the face of an incredible amount of circumstantial and direct evidence decided that nothing bad had occurred.

Project Sidewinder was a case of actual government corruption and influence peddling as opposed to the possible accidental leak of confidential information.

So, how does that work? How does Rae demonize the one, minimal event and exonerate the other, systemically corrupt problem? I guess one would have to climb into the confusing and convoluted mind of former NDP Premier, now Liberal MP, Bob Rae. Enlightening? Probably not. Hypocritical? Absolutely.

L’Affaire Bernier is sad and tawdry. The fact that this narcissistic MP from Quebec has embarrassed the government of Stephen Harper is sad enough. And there is no doubt that none of this would have happened had Harper been able to actually utilize the talent within his caucus. But unfortunately, this is Canada, and the Prime Minister had to find places for lesser lights in Cabinet simply because they come from certain politically necessary parts of the country.

And, at the end of the day, Bernier, no matter how he plays out in Quebec, simply isn’t that bright as evidenced by this whole affair. What is really sad is that the Prime Minister had to reach into the shallow end of the gene pool because of the tiresome politics of Quebec.

Leo Knight
primetimecrime@gmail.com

Supreme injustice

2008-05-18T20:11:00.006-07:00

In 2003 the governing Liberal Party of Canada foisted a supreme injustice upon this country with the Youth Criminal Justice Act or YCJA. Many police officers in Canada think YCJA stands for You Can't Jail Adolescents, so weak was the legislation.

But count on the Supreme Court of Canada to take an already weak piece of legislation and make it weaker still. And in the case of Regina vs D.B. 2008 25 they did not disappoint.

Back when I was a young police officer we had the Juvenile Delinquents Act as our governing authority when dealing with the teenaged scumbags - oh sorry, poor little devils who weren't breast fed and or their mommies drank and their daddies deserted them and boo hoo hoo - who seem to think that the rule of law doesn't apply to them unless and until they get caught. Then they were happy to piss and moan about how hard done by they are and how it isn't their fault.

Back then, we would complain about how the JDA was so lenient on juvies and how they couldn't give a fig because nothing would happen to them. I remember a cop who used to mail a birthday card to 'frequent flyers' wishing them a Happy Birthday when they turned eighteen. Inside was a photo of a pair of handcuffs and a bullet. The implication was obvious; now that you are an adult, I'm coming to get you.

The JDA was replaced with another weak-kneed statute called the Young Offenders Act (YOA) which was later replaced with the YCJA. All of this nonsense is created by the hand-wringers who simply cannot or will not understand that some of these criminal thugs are incorigible and irreparable as human beings.

The Supremes said that we can't impose statutory reverse onus positions on the little darlings. It's unfair to treat these charming young folks as adults unless Crown can absolutely prove that the crimes committed, be it murder most horrible as occurred in case of Rena Virk or the teens involved in the senseless and most brutal killing of 13 year old Nina Courtepatte.

Much has been written about the killing of Nina Courtepatte. But what has not been said is that for several hours she was raped and tortured and for a long period of time she was badly injured and knew she was going to die. And she pleaded for her killers to finish her off. And they wouldn't. They did it slow and very painfully.

You simply cannot view the circumstances of a file like that and not come to the conclusion that those involved are evil. And evil should never see the light of day ever again.

But that will not be the case for the killers of Nina Courtepatte. The adults, such as they were, will some day be eligible for parole. The juveniles will be free in far too short a period of time. And Nina, unfortunately, will be forgotten.

And the Supreme Court of Canada decided that the legislation that protected the people instrumental in the murder of little Nina Courtepatte are being unfairly done by politicians who haven't a clue about the real problems in this country.

If the Supreme Court of Canada had any conscience or morals, they would be ashamed of themselves for not doing the right thing.

And if my Aunt had balls she would be my Uncle.

Leo Knight

primetimecrime@gmail.com

Failed again . . .

2008-05-10T13:22:00.005-07:00

A week ago, a story appeared in The Province about a rather innocuous sign of the times - thefts of bags from unsuspecting visitors at Vancouver International Airport.

But, what was glossed over was the identification of an arrested suspect in the spate of thefts. Ramon Rafael Montesinos Chavoro, 36, was arrested, charged with Theft over $5000 - an indictable offence in Canada - and released on $5,000 bail. And that’s not posted bail as in real dollars. No, indeed, that means “promised” dollars. Or, in more simple terms, nothing.

But, hang on a second, Chavoro is a Mexican national. Is he in Canada legally? And even if he is, why would we allow a foreign national to come here, allegedly commit a series of crimes and allow him to be freed on minor bail conditions?

Does he have a previous criminal history in Canada? What about in his home country?

This is ridiculous at any level. Made especially moreso since we learned this week, courtesy of the federal Auditor General Shelia Fraser, that the Canadian Border Services Agency had lost track of 41,000 illegal immigrants, most of whom are failed refugee claimants.

It seems that in this country it matters not whether you are a failed refugee claimant or a serial criminal, what passes for a justice system in Canada will let you go with little or no restrictions on your freedoms.

I must confess I am at a loss here to try and understand whatever logic exists to pretend that such a system is somehow tolerable or that this system “works” by any definition.

Who are these 41,000 failed refugee claimants? I don’t know and the government won’t tell us. We don’t know if they are gypsy thieves, Russian strippers or al Qaeda terrorist. And the sad part is that the government hasn’t a clue either to go along with where they might be.

But they do know who Chavoro is and what he’s all about. And yet the system still let him go instead of holding him in custody pending trial. And if, as is most likely, he is found guilty he should be deported after serving whatever sentence the court might impose. Which, of course would be nothing more than time served. But, at least the government could have packed him aboard a plane and sent him back to his homeland and in doing so, lived up to their responsibility to protect the public.

But sadly, that is not what happened in this case. Or in the thousands and thousands of others like this.

Leo Knight

Prime Time Crime.com

Immigration decision a mystery

2008-05-03T09:20:00.003-07:00

It's difficult to try and be respectful of the Canadian justice system when you get decisions such as the one rendered by Immigration adjudicator Daphne Shaw Dyck in the case of Jose Franciso Cardoza Quinteros, an admitted killer and member of the notoriously violent Latino gang Mara Salvatrucha or more commonly known as MS 13.

But then, I have come to expect so very little of a system designed to be overseen by people with little or no training for the role they are performing. For most, it seems the only qualification is to have connections to whatever political party is in power and makes the appointments.

Now, I don't know the adjudicator with the double-barrelled family name. And, it may well be that from time to time she gets it right. But then, even a stopped clock is right twice a day.

What I can and will say is that she is so wrong in this case that one has to question her competence to sit in judgement of immigration claims. When a waste of oxygen like this has already admitted to being a member of MS 13 and a participant in gangland murders, I sincerely question her ability to process information presented.

How she came to the conclusion that this lothesome individial was likely not a gang banger because, well, I have no idea. She had no evidence before her that said this goof was anything but what he said he was.

The real problem here is not that this adjudicator went off the reservation in this case, but rather that there are so many of these 'appointees' in similar positions of power to put at risk the rest of society in Canada. And there is precious little we can do about it.

It seems that Pierre Trudeau's so called "Just Society" is really anything but.

Leo Knight

primetimecrime@gmail.com

And justice for all . . . to not see

2008-04-15T21:48:00.004-07:00

No one will ever accuse me of being a defender of the Hells Angels. In point of fact, I am on record on many occasions saying that police must be given more tools and more resources to fight not only the bikers, but all aspects of organized crime. Which, I might add, notwithstanding the abdication of responsibility by Madame Justice Anne MacKenzie in the trial of full-patch member David Francis Giles, the Hells Angels are clearly a criminal organization as has been stated by courts in BC and Ontario in previous decisions.

Having said all that, there is something decidedly wrong with what has occurred in the sentencing of three unnamed members of the biker gang for contempt of court.

I don't know what has gone on in camera in this case in which Madame Justice MacKenzie agreed to a ban on publication of the names. And that is essentially the problem. The old adage is that Justice must not only be done, but it must be seen to be done.

How can we determine if justice was in fact done in this case if we cannot know the names and the details of the offense? Justice carried out behind a curtain is not justice in a democracy. It may pass for justice in a tin-pot dictatorship like Cuba, but it is not justice in my eyes.

Madame Justice MacKenzie demonstrated a profound lack of understanding of the Hells Angels and how their business operates in her judgement in Giles case. That lack of understanding is, in my view, a disservice to the public. The contempt citations against unnamed individuals who were allegedly a part of the criminal enterprise is nothing more than a furtherance of the disservice.

Leo Knight

primetimecrime@gmail.com

China Syndrome

2008-03-26T20:51:00.006-07:00

On March 14th, 2008, the Government of the People's Republic of China began a crackdown on Tibetan citizens protesting against occupying power that began with the invasion of their country by the People's Liberation Army in 1950 and continues to this day.

The West, for the most part, immediately condemned the latest blatant human rights abuses by a government that seeks to dominate, if not the world, then all of Asia at the least. And, under the jackbooted heel of Communist tyranny. Well, the two front-runners for the Democratic Presidential nomination in the US, B. Hussein Obama and the former First Lady and current junior Senator from New York, who, amazingly enough, single-handedly ended 35 years of the troubles in Northern Ireland - well, that's what she said - were about 12 days late before recoiling in abject horror and metaphorically crying crocodile tears.

So, after sending in the troops to crush the demonstrations and forcing the oppressed people of Tibet into hiding, they actually announced that hundreds of the protestors had "surrendered." (See China says hundreds have surrendered)

Imagine that, surrendering to a regime that kills those people at will who don't or won't grasp the teachings of the Red Book. Yeah, I'll bet they were surendering in droves.

The Government of the PRC is a disgusting regime that engages in systemic human rights violations on a daily basis, never mind the brutal abuses such as have occured in Tibet in the past fortnight or Tianammen Square in the late 80's. Crushing a student protest in the Forbidden City or deluding a complicit Western media on Tibet, it's all the same: oppressive Communist regime takes advantage of the useful idiots in the Western media. Since the days of Lenin, nothing changes.

What puzzles, is why we continue to placate, ignore and turn a blind eye? Or, how exactly were the PRC actually awarded the Summer Olympics? Who did they buy?

Leo Knight

primetimecrime@gmail.com

The truth shall set you free . . .unless you are a federal civil servant

2008-03-08T17:41:00.002-08:00

During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act. – George Orwell

The story of former Foreign Services employee Joanna Gualtieri’s battle with the bureaucrats in the federal government should make every Canadian angry. Not just pissed about a waste of taxpayer’s money, but “I want a Revolution” angry.

Gaultieri bore witness and tried to report to corruption and waste and tried to do her job. Apparently, telling the truth is a big mistake in the civil service. Now the mandarins who earn their living by sucking on the public teat are trying to crush Gualteri under a ton of legal bullshit.

So Gualtieri is saying that some foreign consulates are wasting money. Hmmm . . .I’d be surprised if ALL foreign consulates aren’t wasting money. She is saying that corruption is present at some foreign missions. Again, I’d be surprised if there wasn’t an element of corruption at all foreign missions.

I’ve seen this movie time and again. This is all about covering bureaucratic ass and nothing to do with what is right. The Tories need to step in and put a stop to this poste haste. They didn’t create this mess or condone the cause of it. But by allowing it to proceed, they appear to be in agreement with the process. And that is very, very wrong.

Leo Knight
primetimecrime@gmail.com

Justice failed

2008-02-11T22:02:00.000-08:00

I'm stunned. I have seen all manner of stupidity and hand-wringing social engineering nonsense coming from our courts in Canada, but nothing I had previously seen prepared me for the blatent nonsense which emanated from the BC Court of Appeal in the case of American accused murderer Vernon Maurice Walker.

Walker is accused of shooting a man in a Seattle alley in June , 2005. A witness picked him from a photo array of six individuals. But this identification wasn't good enough for Mr. Justice Ian Donald. Unbelieveably, he actually believes it was his duty to pontificate on the legitimacy of the photo identification and decided to release this 'alleged' murderer.

Walker came to Canada betting on the lenient criminal justice system in the hope that he would be able to hide from American justice after 'allegedly' committing a murder. And, just to prove his intentions were well-placed, Mr. Justice Donald gave credence to him with his flagrantly stupid judgement.

Yes, stupid. For I cannot fathom what great leap of mental gymnastics could possibly lead the supposedly learned judge to reach the conclusion that an eyewitness is not good enough to meet the test of whether there is a case to be met in the jurisdiction the murder was committed.

And that is the point. It is not within the purview of Mr. Justice Donald to determine guilt or innocence. But rather, it was his duty to determine whether there was sufficient evidence to have the individual placed before a court in the jurisdiction preferring the prosecution. In this case Seattle, not Moscow or Beijing. Seattle, in the state of Washington, in the United States of America. You know, in the cradle of democracy where individual rights trump everything. The place that sets the standard for the rest of the Western world.

And it was in that duty that Mr. Justice Donald failed and failed miserably.

And it is in that failure that he has put to risk another life because as sure as God made little green apples, Walker will not change his past behaviour, alleged though it may be, and become a God fearing, contributing member of our society. No, I'm willing to participate in any betting pool on when Walker will be arrested again.

One can only hope that the next person who falls victim to Walker won't be someone near and dear to me or thee.

Leo Knight

leo@primetimecrime.com

A systemic murder

2008-01-26T09:42:00.000-08:00

Another senseless murder of an innocent person committed by someone who should not have been on the streets but for a weak, broken justice system.

Yesterday, police in Calgary charged Christopher James Watcheston, 21, with the murder of Arcelie Laoagan, a 41 year old mother of five whose battered body was found a week ago near a public transit station. He was on bail at the time of the murder.

Lawyer and justice commentator Scott Newark had this to say in an email about this case. It's worth sharing:

************************************************************

So let's see.....guy gets charged with three assaults and doesn't make bail for a couple of weeks. That suggests maybe a history not revealed in story. Shortly after release he commits more crimes...while on bail which is literally a promise he wouldn't commit more crimes if court released him from charges of first set of crimes...but again he is released on bail and now charged in this murder.

A) We should be keeping track of this "profile" because quite literally the state had the capacity to have prevented this crime by taking notice of his continuing criminality but chose....consciously...to let him go...again....and take a chance...again....

B) There is a need for a review of the circumstances of the release of this person independent of the criminal trial. Did the Crown seek revocation of the original bail and oppose his release. If not, why not? Did the JP or provincial court judge reject such requests and order the release? Did someone say they would serve as a surety to enforce the deceptively described "house arrest".

What's needed is literally an examination of how the means of death came to be in a position to inflict death. These used to be done in Ontario by Coroner's Inquest and we recommended an amendment to the Coroner's Act (akin to when an inmate dies in custody) requiring an inquest when the person that unlawfully kills was released from lawful custody by the state and the amendment also stipulated that the releasing authority...including a judge or JP...is a compellable witness. There may be nothing "systemic" about this case but we'll never know if no one asks.

The justice system is about to go into 'we can't talk about it' mode supposedly to protect the accused's right to a fair trial. Co-incidentally it also helps cover the system's ass which is at least partially why these kinds of obviously preventable crimes keep occurring.

*************************************************************

Scott's last point is critical. The blatent nonsense so often used by elements in the justice system about why they cannot talk about their incompetence and ineffectiveness protects the system much more than the rights of an accused. That, perhaps, needs to get addressed before much can be done about a fundamentally broken justice system.

Leo Knight
leo@primetimecrime.com

Media manipulation

2008-01-17T10:33:00.001-08:00

Seemingly, it doesn't matter where you look in the mainstream media these days, but in most stories there's a twist, a lean to the liberal left. It's especially apparent in the Globe & Mail or the official organ of the Liberal Party of Canada, The Toronto Star. But it is even showing up now in the most innocuous of straight news stories.

I have spent much of the first month of this year flying hither and yon, spending interminable hours waiting at airports, reading a variety of local papers. And I started seeing this trend where it never used to be and in stories you never used to see it.

In today's National Post, there was a news brief about a police raid on a home in Etobicoke, in east Toronto. Police seized a sawed-off Ruger Mini 14, a clip which holds 19 rounds and 132 rounds of ammunition. The gun had been previously stolen. A father and son, both justice system frequent flyers, were arrested. All good.

But, to end the brief, some hand-wringing social engineer who toils away in some CanWest news room added this: The arrests came as Toronto Mayor David Miller called for a total ban on handgun ownership in the city.

What in the world does that have to do with the salient story? Absolutely nothing. And why any self-respecting professional news editor would let that run probably speaks volumes.

In the first place the Mini 14 is a long-barelled weapon. Or at least it was in this case before it got sawed-off. And in the second place it was stolen.

This is simply the writer of the brief taking the opportunity to put Miller's idiocy out there one more time to give it credibility.

Miller is a fool in this with his knee-jerk pronouncement, but I object to the media treating it as though it makes sense and then espousing it again and again in the vain hope that readers will suddenly become as foolish as the Mayor of Toronto.

Fortunately, readers are smarter than that. Well, except for the voters in Toronto who elected David Miller.

Leo Knight
leo@primetimecrime.com

- Leo Knight on Blackberry

Double standard apparent

2008-01-06T23:01:00.000-08:00

Well, the holidays are over and I managed to contain my vitriol whenever I came across yet another story about political correctness run amok. The controversy generated by the Elmdale Public School in the Ottawa area was perhaps the best example of political correctness in the lunatic fringe, in this case best espoused by teachers and their inevitably wrong union.

But the story over the holidays that really got me was the one about the suspension of Burnaby Mountie Richard Jacques for 10 days.

Constable Jacques was found guilty of abusing his position to help his girlfriend leave the scene of an accident. He was also found guilty on separate occasions, by either not following orders or failing to properly investigate crimes ranging from a break-and-enter to an attempted abduction. Pretty serious stuff one would think. But not serious enough to make the officer pay forfeit with his job.

So, if I understand this correctly, this member demonstrated he is not prepared to follow policy and, perhaps more to the point, lacked the integrity to follow the law and his duty and deliberately engaged in activity that should be more properly described as obstruction, a criminal code offence.

And for all of that, the RCMP gave Cst. Jacques a 10 day suspension. Ten days for turning his back on the oath he took and permanently destroying any credibility he would need to be involved in any prosecution he may be involved with in the future.

I’m appalled frankly. How is it that Cpl. Robert Read and Staff Sergeant Bob Stenhouse, were fired for doing nothing more than telling the truth and this guy gets a ten day rip?

There’s no question that both Read and Stenhouse coloured outside the lines as laid out within the RCMP when they spoke to folks outside the Force because the bureaucracy within was failing miserably. That was wrong. But if it was wrong enough to get fired, how in the world can the Force justify the continued employment of someone like Cst. Jacques?

Read and Stenhouse were trying to do the right thing and got fired by the pointy-headed bureaucrats that run the RCMP. Jacques was trying to circumvent the law and abused his position as a police officer. He will never again have the credibility necessary to mount a successful prosecution, something which is central to his job. Why isn’t the Force holding him up to the same standard as two members who were actually trying to do the right thing?

I have a major problem with this double standard.

Leo Knight

leo@primetimecrime.com

Jailhouse violence no factor in justice

2007-12-22T12:05:00.001-08:00

The lawyer for Michael "Pyro" Williams had the audacity to suggest to a court that his client, convicted in the brutal sex torture of 13 year old Nina Louise Courtepatte, would be at risk in the federal corrections system and the court should send him to a medium security facility.

Fortunately, the court would have none of it and Williams will go to the maximum security Edmonton Institution. Which, I might add, is a place society rightly reserves for its worst.

Courtepatte's murder has been well documented and the details still horrify. But to argue that because the act was so horrible that society should be less harsh lest something bad befall the individual responsible for the horror is nuts. From a personal perspective, whatever may be the fate for Williams and the others involved in the senseless slaying, I couldn't care less as long as they are never in the position to hurt someone again.

Nina Courtepatte was tortured in a manner that was inhuman. She was raped, beaten, stabbed and worse, she knew she was dying and the killers knew it too. She likely pleaded with them to get it over with and kill her. And even then, the torturous, slow killing continued.

I cannot even begin to describe the revulsion I feel for the animals who could participate in anything so horrible. I cannot even begin to understand why anyone in a just society should give a damn about anything that might happen to them in prison.

Sentencing these animals to life in prison doesn't even begin to provide justice for Nina Courtepatte. Perhaps when they are in prison, something might befall them that would induce in them the fear, pain and terror that they inflicted upon an innocent 13 year old girl. And perhaps not. But, it should not matter a whit to neither the system, nor society, when it comes to sentencing.

Jailhouse "justice" should not be condoned, but neither should the potential for it be reflected in any sentence.

Leo Knight

leo@primetimecrime.com

'Crats craziness risks public safety

2007-12-08T17:20:00.000-08:00

While I would never accuse the bureaucrats in Corrections Services Canada of being in touch with reality, I think some recent policy decisions are suggesting they no longer reside on this planet.

Last week the Surete de Quebec were trying to button-hole an escaped piece of excrement known as Kevin Smith who had escaped from Montée St-François Institution in the Montreal area on Oct. 9th, 2007. They had a photo of the fleeing fugitive, but it was so old they believed it no longer looked like him. CSC did not issue an updated photo of Smith ostensibly because it would have violated his privacy rights.

The reason the police photo was outdated was because the last time they dealt with him was in 1991 when he was arrested, charged and convicted of murder. Last week, the SQ thought they had Smith corralled in the Estrie area of the Eastern Townships. But alas, he slipped through their fingers. They didn't specifically say it was because they didn't have a recent photo of Smith, but reading between the lines in the news story from the Sherbrooke Record pretty much tells the tale.

Now I don't know about you, but when a guy is convicted of murder and gets shuffled off to prison for a couple of decades, I think if he leaves before he is entitled to, he ought not to have any right to privacy. I may be old fashioned, but if he hasn't got the right to freedom and liberty, then that pretty much says the rest of it is all forfeit as well. And, for the record, this includes all those darlings of the Liberal Party of Canada who have the right to vote while they are guests of Her Majesty in one of the Club Feds that masquerade as our prison system.

And lest you think that this may be a one-off in the Smith case, it isn't. It is the policy of the dull-witted bureaucrats who run CSC.

Gary Gormley, another convicted murderer, escaped from a New Brunswick prison in September and CSC deliberately refused a request for a photo of that particular waste of oxygen. According to a story in the Montreal Gazette, "Under privacy rules, a photo of a convict can't be released unless he gives permission and signs a release form, said Corrections Canada, even if he breaks out of jail."

What utter horse hockey!

The RCMP, also a federal agency who toil under the same legislation as CSC, had no problem issuing a photo of Gormley when the media asked. So, what gives with CSC?

We already know that the backbone-challenged posers who run CSC don't think that criminals should be in prison. Now they seem to believe they have rights that effectively hamper the police efforts to return the rare murderers who actually do go to jail when they escape from the tender mercies of CSC.

It is nothing less than outrageous. The Prime Minister should immediately fire the Director General of the CSC and instruct the minister responsible to give those bureaucrats marching orders that more clearly reflect reality and I might add, the view of a majority of the Canadian public.

Leo Knight

leo@primetimecrime.com

Politics of policing bar the right way

2007-12-03T23:58:00.000-08:00

For a number of reasons, the debate has been raging in the Vancouver area about the potential amalgamation of the various police services into a regional police service.

The new Chief Constable of West Vancouver Police Department, Kash Heed, weighed in with his comments that it was high time for a regional police force. In the aftermath, I spoke a number of times on various radio talkshows essentially explaining that the talk of this has been happening since at least the 70's when I was a baby Mountie transferred into the Lower Mainland.

I received an email from a friend who is from BC, but is now a cop in California. The problem is the politics of policing. A nebulous term perhaps. But it is a prevalent issue. Here are his thoughts pasted in:

Hi Leo,

I thought I would add my observations to the current media storm of police dept. amalgamation in metro Vancouver. I think it will never come about for the following reasons:

1. Unlike in Toronto, Montreal, and Ottawa it is not the simple task of amalgamating a bunch of smaller agencies with one larger agency. That's why it went so smoothly in those places.

2. Vancouver has three police masters to appease: V.P.D. , the R.C.M.P., and, the smaller municipal depts. as a group. Both V.P.D. and the R.C.M.P. have the attitude their way is the only way and would never surrender to the other. The sdmaller "munies" at least work operationally as part of both systems, and are best prepared to transition (e.g. computer systems, tactics, training, etc.)

3. There are about 5,000 cops at all levels in metro Vancouver. Even if they convince a lot of the Mounties to become part of a regional force, there would still be a lot who would refuse to leave the Mounties. How can you replace so many cops, especially nowadays when it's so hard to find good quality candidates?

4. Where would the Mounties send all their redundant officers from the Lower Mainland? A huge amount of the force is employed in the Lower Mainland and it would force the Mounties to shrink. I know the force is undermanned but they would end up with a huge surplus they could not fund federally (without provincial and municipal contracts).

5. How do you harmonize the R.C.M.P. pension plan with the provincial police one? I did a study of this issue when I was in college in the late 1980's. I found it has been talked about since the 1930's!! I think the best that metro Vancouver will ever see is a few police resources and units(like the current regional homicide unit) being regionalized. But I would make a hefty bet that their will NEVER be one Metro Vancouver Police Dept. The Lower Mainland's situation has too many logisitical obstacles (let alone the politics) to prevent it.

My friend summarizes things well in that the politics of policing will prevent the logical and ultimately "right" thing from occurring.

The reality is that the carpet cops will always move to protect their fiefdom and not do what is right for the public. I'm a little surprised that Chief Heed failed to address that in his article. But, the politics prevalent in the policing world are a significant barrier to doing what is right for the law abiding , tax-paying public.

To understand an aspect of this, let's look at the final email sent out by the President of the Calgary Police Association to its membership in the waning days of his tenure. Al Koenig has served for three terms and cannot seek another term. He sent the following communication to each and every member of the Calgary Police Service. It is instructive in the crass and crude way it describes and plays the politics of policing. Here it is in its entirety and unadulterated:

CPA President’s Final Message

As this will be my last message to the membership as president, I thought it appropriate to reflect briefly on the past 8 years and to project what hopefully should be occurring in the next few years.I took office on January 1st 2000, and was surprised to find a president’s office where there were few systems or policies in place, and very little accountability.

Member representation seemed to be based on a whim, and many didn’t see the CPA as an organization that protected or advocated their rights. Some CPS management of the day regarded us as a joke, and the media and most Calgarians didn’t even know we existed, or why. I also inherited a CPA bank account that was so barren that we had to cash in GIC’s to pay the property taxes on our lot. Today we have over 2 million dollars in the CPA bank accounts, and a city block/lot valued at over 25 million dollars and growing.I tried to implement true accountability, however faced one or two hostile board members and their friends who proceeded to block every attempt to bring the new practices into place, and used every tool they had at their disposal to try and discredit me, as well as any supportive directors on the board.

Through rumour mongering and spreading false allegations, they tricked the membership into authorizing a forensic audit costing over $50,000.00 to “expose the corruption”. CPA computers were seized and we went into lockdown, of course this was conveniently orchestrated right around election time. The forensic accountants released their report a few months later finding “no illegal or criminal activity” and suggested the very controls be put into place that had been previously blocked by those same conspirators.

We also lived through the toughest negotiations we ever faced as an association, and as a result the Work Awareness Campaign (WAC) was born. During WAC, CPA members wore Back the Blue ball caps & turtlenecks, they grew facial hair, and those that couldn’t wore blue jeans with their uniforms or suit jackets, all showing their protest against lagging contract talks and city bargaining tactics. We marched on City Hall with the firefighter’s union and staged a sit-in during a City Council meeting. WAC also revealed who was willing to stand together…and who wasn’t. I have been told by more than one ex-CPS Executive member that prior to the “Pembrooke Peace Accord”, the CPA broke the spirit of the former chief, something he apparently never forgot or forgave.

In retrospect, it is interesting to note as well that preceding WAC, unless we accepted 0% + 0% we always received our contract settlements as the result of binding arbitration. Since WAC, we have been able to bring contracts before the membership for your vote, and you have ratified them.When I took office, we ranked 66th out of 78 police associations nationally in relation to wages. We have been successful in establishing “Top 10” status and having that recognized by the City of Calgary. At present, our 1st Class Constables are slightly below the “Top 10” by approximately $700.00 annually, but our Senior 1 & 2 Constables, Sergeants, Detectives and Staff Sergeants are in the top 3 of Canada.

In 2008, our senior Staff Sergeants will break the $100k per annum barrier, again not bad when you remember that they were paid $74k in 2000.The CPA is now known publicly as a strong supporter of local and national charities, and has donated well over $200,000.00 to those in need. This year, under the guidance and direction of Cal Wiltshire, and through a partnership with Walmart, the CPA is hosting the first annual Kid’s Christmas party in concert with the Boy’s & Girl’s Club of Calgary. This party will distribute holiday presents not only to CPA members’ children, but to children in need as identified by the Boy’s & Girl’s Club.The Missing Children’s Society, the Weekend to End Breast Cancer, Society for the Treatment of Autism, Prostate Cancer Ride for Dad, Calgary Military Family Resource Center, Camp Carmangay and the Fallen Four Society are but a few of the other groups the CPA has assisted.

One thing that continues to be developed is establishing our own Health & Welfare plan. While we were initially a part of CEEBS, which later became MEBAC, our benefits remain short of where I believe they should be based on our group size and usage. I’m happy to state that the ground work has been laid and contacts established to explore a viable cost neutral alternative to MEBAC.

Again, this is being stewarded by Cal Wiltshire, who currently sits on the MEBAC board, and he should have good news to report to the membership in the not to distant future.With the arrival of Chief Hanson, it is quite apparent that the CPA is entering into new and exciting times, coupled with a shared vision of forward progress.

Unfortunately, the vast majority of the CPA’s efforts in the past appeared to be purposely stalled by the previous chief. Chief Hanson has been very receptive to new ideas, and doesn’t reject initiatives merely because they didn’t come from him.

It is now time for you to decide who can best continue to lead the CPA for the next 3 years. I hope you have all read the candidates platforms and can differentiate poseurs from bona fide candidates. Disrespecting the current elected board of directors and their collective efforts or promising changes slightly short of giving everyone a pony on their birthday are not the basis on which to credibly campaign for office.

I believe there are two exceptional candidates who currently serve on the board of directors that are seeking the position of President. Both have the requisite, unique skills and abilities required to do the job, but what they will also need is a strong board of directors to support them in what has become an increasingly difficult task in an ever changing policing environment.

Another past director has also put his name forward, and stood strong as a member advocate during difficult times. It is easy to lead when there are no problems, and the candidates who previously stepped forward to serve you during tumultuous times should be rewarded with very serious consideration for the various positions.

Conversely I am also duty bound to inform the membership that the fourth presidential candidate was previously sanctioned by the board of directors and even had his honorarium withheld due to his refusal to do the job he was elected for. This individual failed to even attend at the CPA offices for several months, except to pick up his honoraria cheque.

This same individual sat on the SFPP board for several years, (unfortunately a provincially appointed position), and refused to step down despite several requests from the CPA board. This refusal was problematic due to the fact that at the time he was no longer on the CPA board, and refused to address CPA member issues. He also previously sat on the MEBAC board, and refused to carry out CPA directives which resulted in his removal.
The current CPA administration is finally able to address the SFPP and MEBAC issues ignored by this candidate…and ironically he now seeks to return as your president. He was also removed from the WAC committee, perhaps a little too late however.
I can only wonder if past behavior indicates future behavior.It has been an honour and a privilege to serve on your board of directors for the past 15 years, and serve the last 8 years as your president. I have made many lifelong friends and collected a few critics and enemies. To my friends, you have my utmost respect and thanks.
To my critics, grow a pair and run yourself. To my enemies, you can kiss my ass. I leave with my sanity and waistline essentially intact and have no regrets. The CPA is a strong vibrant association with many talented people willing to step up and do the right thing. Please support these individuals because they, and those who preceded them, are what make this association great.
Good luck, best wishes & stay safe.

Al Koenig

While the message emanates from Calgary, the issues are no different in Vancouver. Koenig's message simply offers us an interesting glimpse into what I am referring.

The politics of policing and the petty empire-building that is so prevalent will, at the end of the day, prevent doing what really needs to be done in Vancouver. The discussion that has been going on for decades is going to continue for a long time to come. No matter how many bodies fall on the streets .

Leo Knight

leo@primetimecrime.com

'Might' isn't right

2007-11-20T20:39:00.000-08:00

For those of you who I have spoken to or who have read my piece on the taser incident at YVR (The right questions not being asked) try this piece by Les MacPherson of the Star Phoenix.

The media is driving a feeding frenzy on the RCMP who were simply responding to a call to deal with a violent man. They responded according to their training and the stated policy of the Force. Don't like the policy? Fine. Make that the story. Think the Mounties were trying to cover up? Terrific. Have a go at their media relations strategy. But don't go after the guys who were trying their best to do their job.

In response to the frenzy, the Government of BC has ordered a public inquiry to accomplish God knows what. Well, that knee-jerk just cost the taxpayer at least $5million. And for what?

The Canada Border Services Agency (Canada Customs) who had care and control of Robert Dziekanski for over ten hours in their holding area and were the last and only agency to speak with him before the RCMP were called to deal with the by-then violent man, are a federal agency under the control, so to speak, of the Public Safety Minister, Stockwell Day. The RCMP at YVR are in federal positions and not, as I understand it, covered by the provincial contract with the federal police agency. YVR itself is under the regulation of the federal Minister of Transport. I hate to be pedantic, but what can a provincial public inquiry hope to achieve into three departments under federal control?

Here’s a clue . . .absolutely nothing unless those agencies decide to cooperate fully with an ultra vires inquiry. That might occur. And the CBSA and YVR might actually say something to address the many serious questions that led to the Mounties being called by them to deal with a violent man they created.

They might. And my old maternal Aunt might grow testicles and become my Uncle.

Leo Knight
http://www.blogger.com/leo@primetimecrime.com

A Look at the Other Side of the Taser Incident:
Man's lack of co-operation necessitated force

Les MacPherson, The StarPhoenix, Saturday, November 17, 2007

We have all by now seen the disturbing video of the hapless Polish immigrant screaming, writhing and dying after RCMP officers used a Taser on him at the Vancouver airport. Now almost everyone in the country is piling on police for using excessive force.

Excuse me for not joining in. What people seem not to realize is that there is no way to subdue a violent, irrational and potentially dangerous suspect that isn't disturbing. What, exactly, would these armchair critics have had the police do? Talk to the guy? They tried. Police when they approached the man were as non-threatening as they could be. It didn't work.

The suspect, after storming around the airport, smashing up furniture and alarming everyone around him, was now ignoring police instructions. Instead of co-operating, as any reasonable person would have and should have done, he threw up his hands, turned around and walked away.

Were police supposed to let him go? Were they to let him storm around some more until he felt like obeying them? I hope not. For all anyone knew, the suspect was armed and potentially dangerous. Had he suddenly produced a weapon and killed an innocent bystander, say, the same people who today are condemning the officers for using excessive force would instead be condemning them for not using enough force. "Why didn't they use their Tasers?" people would be asking.

All the man had to do was co-operate and no one would have been hurt. Instead, he resisted by walking away. If violent and potentially dangerous suspects can avoid arrest simply by walking away, we might as well not even have police.

Of course, Robert Dziekanski did not deserve to die. But someone who for no good reason is violent and destructive and who then ignores the police should expect to be roughly handled. That the rough handling in this case ended in tragedy is not the fault of police. They were using a tool that we have given them; a tool intended to reduce the risk of injury to both themselves and suspects.

No one could have foreseen that the suspect would not survive. Independent scientific studies in Canada, Britain and the U.S. have repeatedly found that Tasers are more likely to save lives and reduce injuries to both suspects and police. That's why journalists and police officers routinely submit to being zapped for demonstration purposes. As an alternative to zapping Dziekanski, police could have tried to physically subdue him, but not without risk of serious injury to themselves and their suspect.

For all they knew at the time, he could have been high on illegal drugs, some of which are known to give a resistant suspect the strength of several men. For all they knew at the time, he could have had AIDS or hepatitis and a pocket full of needles. The $60,000 a year we pay these people isn't nearly enough to expect them to get into a bloody brawl if they can possibly avoid it. Pepper spray is another alternative, but that, too, has been implicated in dozens of deaths.

As for police batons, they have been found to be more dangerous still, more so, even, than Tasers. Of course, none of these are necessary for suspects who don't resist arrest. Why Dziekanski behaved as he did, we may never know. We've all found ourselves waiting at one time or another for someone who doesn't show up, as he apparently was. Most of us handle it without throwing around the furniture.

There was in this case the additional complication of a language barrier, but rational people overcome language barriers all the time, especially so in international airports. That 60 million others, many of them foreign, have passed through the Vancouver airport without incident would suggest that the problem was with Dziekanski.

By the time police were called to the scene, he had long since cleared immigration and was free to go. He could have sought out an interpreter. He could have caught a cab, found a hotel room and sorted it all out the next day. Instead, he went more or less berserk and then resisted arrest. Police are not allowed the luxury of sorting it out later.

Their duty was to subdue and arrest him, one way or another, and promptly. For all they knew, he was a smuggler whose erratic behaviour was caused by a broken condom of cocaine in his stomach. Had that been the case, their prompt action might just as easily have saved his life. When police are killed in the line of duty, we fret mightily over officer safety, for without officer safety, there can be no public safety. Then, when police use the tools we give them to make their dangerous job as safe as it can be, we condemn them. So which is it?

lmacpherson@sp.canwest.com

Better late than never

2007-10-29T05:39:00.000-07:00

The ink was barely dry on a column I published last night wondering how the Liberal Party of Canada would handle the revelations about West Vancouver-Sunshine Coast MP Blair Wilson when, scant hours later, the Libs announced on their web site that he was done. And no, I am not claiming there is any connection. I'm just surprised at the speed of it.

During the Jean Chretien era, allegations such as this would have been met with denials, obfuscation and more denials until the country lost interest or got pummelled into submission. Not this time it seems.

Although, I am a little surprised that the Liberal Party is claiming that this is the first they have heard of allegations of impropriety about Wilson. I first wrote about him in January of 2005 and Terry O'Neill wrote on the subject in the Western Standard in the spring of 2006. So it is a little disingenous to claim this is new. But, better late than never I suppose.

Wilson should never have been the MP for West Vancouver-Sunshine Coast. There was more than enough information about him as a business failure and alleged con man going back into the '90s. But, for the Libs it seems none of it matters until it appears as a front page story in the mainstream media.

While I applaud the action taken by Stephane Dion, it is still long overdue.

Leo Knight

leo@primetimecrime.com

Raging debate or raging lunatics?

2007-10-21T23:26:00.001-07:00

A couple of weeks back a provincial court judge on Vancouver Island earned himself a rebuke from a charter member of the legal industry sitting on the bench of the BC Court of Appeal when he wrote in a written response to a defense submission requesting yet another slap on the wrist for his client by way of a Conditional Sentence Order or CSO.

The judge, stricken with an unconscionable fit of common sense, said: "CSOs, as I have said repeatedly, have become little more than glorified probation orders . . . it is hard to imagine them having any effect on an offender except as a matter of inconvenience. "It is hard to imagine, as well, that these sentences have any credibility with the public."

The Court of Appeal judicial tribunal evidently thought that bit of overt logic was beyond the purview of a lowly PCJ and said the comments were "not appropriate" and could "potentially undermine public confidence in the judicial process."

What, in sweet Fanny Adams, are they drinking up there in the Court of Appeal Chambers? Do they actually believe that the public has any confidence whatsoever in the judicial process? Here’s some flash traffic for the silk-gowned elitists: The public has absolutely no confidence in the judicial process. None. Zip. Zero. Nada. The only people who have confidence in the system are the habitual criminals, gangsters and drug dealers who know the system will visit few, if any, consequences upon them time after time after time after time.

In the past couple of weeks though, there are a few signs that some common sense is starting to eke into the thinking of the politicians. Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced in the Throne Speech last week that he is fed up with the Liberals blockading their anti-crime initiatives that have resonated with voters across the country. This isn’t a right and left issue, it is a right and wrong issue. And any effort to stymie the changes to the Criminal Code legislation suggested by the Harper government is wrong.

CSO’s, first foisted upon an unwitting nation by Jean Chretien’s sad, tired and corrupt government, have absolutely got to go. They may, and I say may with an abundance of caution, be appropriate in some cases where the accused is in front of the courts for the first time. That’s it. CSO’s . . .house arrest . . .grounding, however you wish to describe the sham perpetrated upon law-abiding Canadians, has to be severely curtailed.

But there are those hand-wringers who really think that a leopard can change its spots and that the rest of us deserve to be victimized again and again. Consider this letter in the October 21st issue of The Province.

In the first place, I wish she were a voice in the wilderness, but she seems to reflect decades of thinking by the Liberal Party of Canada and far too many thousands of under-achievers in the federal bureaucracy. Notice the hint of “RACIST” in the letter? What absolute nonsense! The only part of it that made any sense was when she said the criminal justice system has been proven to be ineffective is stopping crime. She might have added the liberal created criminal justice system and she would have been closer to the truth.

I applaud the Prime Minister and his attempt to take control of our justice system and our streets as a result. But, his is not only to talk the talk. He must be seen to walk the walk. We shall see if he stays the course amid the shifting political winds. As for the letter writer, I wonder if she and the other members of the lunatic fringe would consider wearing an orange cone on their heads as they venture out in public. It would be much easier to shun them.

Leo Knight
leo@primetimecrime.com

Damned if they do . . .

2007-10-13T17:47:00.001-07:00

I see that students at UBC are "outraged" by a couple of members of the RCMP who showed their human side instead of acting like jack-booted brown shirts. I mean really, have these self-aggrandizing twits nothing better to do?

And why in the world hasn't someone in the RCMP told the student newspaper and any other media outlet thinking this is a real news story to take a hike?

It seems the Mounties pulled up to a group of students who were partying at a bus stop back in July. A number of the youths, if not all, had open liquor, an offence under the Liquor Control and Licensing Act, a provincial statute. The police officers could have written summons' for each of the students, arrested anyone being uncooperative and charged them with obstruction or simply carted a bunch of them off for being drunk in public. But they didn't.

No, they did their job by getting them all to empty out their glasses and bottles and joked around with the students. You know, like real human beings.

We've seen it all before. If the police wade into a situation like that and try and "hard ass" the youths, a fight will evolve, people will go to jail and the police will inevitably be criticized by these self-same holier-than-thou jerks for being heavy-handed. This time they did what they had to do and did it without laying a single charge or putting anyone in jail. And they are still being criticized. Cops expect that theirs is a thankless job, but this is ridiculous. The RCMP should not spend one minute contemplating anything other than saying to anyone who asks that the members did nothing wrong.

Trust me in this, this is not a news story. It is nothing more that huffery and puffery by some self aggrandizing pinheads.

'Nuff said.

Leo Knight

leo@primetimecrime.com

Pomp and circumstance when a quiet farewell would do

2007-09-30T16:47:00.001-07:00

"Friends applaud, the Comedy is over". - Ludwig von Beethoven

Tomorrow is the transition day of the administration of the Office of the Chief Constable of the Calgary Police Service. And to judge by the statements made in an interview with the Calgary Sun's Rick Bell, the new chief is going to bring a tough new attitude to policing that city.

But, lest you think that the outgoing Chief Jack Beaton will be going quietly, uh, well, not so much.

Apparently Beaton has commissioned a Change of Command parade with all the pomp and circumstance possible. Including, I am told, the Ceremonial Unit, which does a foot drill demonstration complete with formal uniforms and all the trimming including white gloves. And, are the fine men and women who voluntarily serve in the Ceremonial Unit happy to show up for Jack's parade? Uh, no. I am told that NCO commanding the unit had to send out an email ordering all members to attend. I am also told the email said, "All members of the CU (trumpeters included) will be required for this event."

Hmmm, what about those folks who are scheduled to be patrolling the streets protecting the citizens of Calgary? No problem. "If you have any issue getting the time off, let me know . . .the Inspector will deal with them . . .otherwise all are expected to attend," concluded the email as described to me.

So, the officers who are being paid to work will be diverted from their regular tasks and those who are on time off will likely be paid overtime to pose and parade around.

Now, I don't what all of this will cost, and in the great scheme of things, only a small fraction of the overall police budget, but why the need to spend it at all?

A day earlier, the full Ceremonial Unit was happy to appear, voluntarily, at the National Memorial Day in recognition of the police officers killed in the line of duty in Canada. But parade for Jack Beaton who cannot even garner the support of one third of the membership of the serving police officers in Calgary? Not unless ordered to.

Speaks volumes, doesn't it?

Leo Knight

leo@primetimecrime.com

*********************

While I encourage full, frank and lively discussion on anything I publish, for the second time since this blog was started, I had to cloak a whole thread on a post because of some ill-informed, anonymous individual. I might have even considered leaving the thread up if the person had signed the comment.

Folks, please feel free to comment and give me your opinion. But please, stay within the bounds of civility and the law. If you don't I will take down the whole thread and by doing that some lively discussion and well-thought out opinions will unfortunately not be seen.

I cannot and will not condone libel, slander and childish name-calling.

Thank you for your cooperation.

Leo Knight

Jack's last gasp

2007-09-22T12:18:00.000-07:00

As if to underline how inneffectual he was as a Chief Constable in Calgary, Jack Beaton has served Michael Bates, the lawyer for Cst. Taufiq Shah, with notice that he will file an application with the Court of Queen's Bench to overturn the Police Act hearing and ruling made by Edmonton Police Supt. Logar. (see Chief wrong . . .again )

How many times does Beaton have to get beaten over the head with something before he understands it? He was wrong to do what he did. He overtly tried an end run around the Police Act and he got caught. And Logar said so in his judgement.

Since the dismal failure to prosecute Shah, who was primarily the victim of racism, (See What's up Jack? ) Beaton has had his long goodbye cut short by the Police Commission . . .finally. His replacement, Rick Hanson is due to be sworn in October 1, 2007, less than two weeks after Beaton served notice on Bates.

Unbelieveable. As against that, I suppose it's probably a fitting way for Beaton to go, by making yet another ham-fisted attempt to get revenge on Shah for daring to be critical of Beaton's administration with the web site Standfirm.biz and its successor Code200.com.

Let it go Jack. For just once in your troubled tenure, couldn't you show a little class and just go quietly?

Leo Knight

leo@primetimecrime.com

Privacy rights for escaped con latest corrections joke

2007-09-09T17:12:00.001-07:00

Just when you think the insanity in Corrections Canada cannot get any worse, they prove it can. (See Escaped prisoner enjoys privacy rights )

As I contemplated that particular bit on nonsense, I received the following from retired Vancouver Police Inspector, Bob Cooper. It needs to see the light of day.

Leo Knight

leo@primetimecrime.com

Although there is never a lack of horror stories involving Corrections Canada, this one's a beauty. A convicted killer escapes from prison and Corrections Canada is more concerned with his privacy rights than they are about the safety and security of the law-abiding populace. Citing provisions of the Privacy Act they refuse to release his photograph to the news media saying that the inmate would first have to sign a release! If this is even true, which wouldn't surprise me, then the Act is in serious and immediate need of amendment. I rather suspect this is a case of an overzealous bureaucrat taking the most narrow interpretation of the Act, otherwise why would they photograph convicts to begin with? Perhaps for a Before and After version in which the piercings and tattoos are 'photoshopped' out and replaced with gowns and mortarboards demonstrating the success of present day 'enlightened' Corrections practices.

Either way this incident speaks volumes about the prevailing attitudes at Corrections Canada brought about by decades of institutionalized liberal philosophy which has held sway since Trudeau was elected. This mindset was articulated by then Solicitor-General Jean-Pierre Goyer who announced in 1971 that the government had decided to stress rehabilitation of offenders rather than the protection of society. The operative phrase in Goyer's statement was 'rather' than' as opposed to 'as well as' or something similar that would have allowed for the coexistence of both goals. The federal justice bureaucracy took Goyer at his word and, as anyone who's worked in the system will tell you, things have gone straight downhill ever since.

The liberal rot has set so deep in the system that even the election of the odd Conservative government over the years has done nothing to put matters right. In some cases you wouldn't know the difference. From pathetically weak criminal law to feeble (not to mention race-based) sentencing to the 'release as quickly as possible' policies of the National Parole Board one could be forgiven for wondering if the protection of society is even a consideration anymore. I would point out here that there are a lot of good and very dedicated people working in all of these areas who simply have no choice but to follow these delusional policies set by the mandarins at the top.

A few years ago, in response to increased violence inside federal prisons, guards asked to be issued with protective 'stab-resistant' vests and handcuffs to be worn on a daily basis. Now prior to this the only protective clothing available to guards would be donned by the Emergency Response Team in the event of a riot and handcuffs were locked in guard stations. As anyone who has ever fought with a prisoner will tell you the sooner you get handcuffs on him the safer it is for everyone. The average person would see this as a reasonable request but not Corrections Canada. They turned the request down saying that such authoritarian symbols would send the wrong message to the inmates. When they care more about the sensitivities of convicted criminals that they do about the safety of their own staff how much do you think they care about you and I?

Around the same time, myself and another detective had to go to Kent Institution to interview a prisoner. Note, that's Kent Institution. Not prison, not penitentiary, but institution. Rather like we were off to commencement exercises at Yale or Princeton. Now for those unfamiliar with the prison, sorry, institutional system, Kent is one of Canada's maximum security institutions built to handle the country's most dangerous convicts. It's the sort of place where you'd hope the authorities would have the upper hand but no. A guard was taking us to see the prisoner when we came to a locked gate.

As we stood waiting for the gate to open a scene unfolded on the other side which showed us exactly who runs the place. Three uniformed guards were standing in a semi-circle around an inmate who looked like he'd done more than his share of time. The inmate, in turn, was addressing a management type who was dressed in civilian clothes so as not to send the wrong message. In a loud, profanity-laced tirade, the inmate told the manager he wasn't going to rake the leaves and also told him where he could shove the rake. The manager's response will be forever etched in my memory. In a low, soothing voice he said "Well now Roger, you have to understand that the rules apply to you as well as to everyone else". This 'enlightened' approach appeared to fall wide of its mark as Roger replied that the manager could shove his rules the same place he put the rake and further suggested he perform a sexual act upon himself.

This went on for 5 minutes while we waited for the gate to open. Each time the guards would move to seize Roger the manager would wave them off and further try to engage this loser seemingly without a single thought of what Roger had done to get there in the first place. The guard who was escorting us was staring at the ground and shuffling his feet in embarrassment. He finally asked how long this would go on in the City Jail to which my partner replied "It's already over. They're already on the intercom calling for the nurse".

So we soldiered on and interviewed the prisoner, a pleasant, beefy kid in his late 20s. During the interview he mentioned that this was his first federal sentence (Note: Federal sentences are those of two years or more, prisoners serving anything less do so in Provincial jails). This prompted me to ask him what he found different from the provincial jails he'd been in before. A look of genuine indignation came across his face and he looked at me and said, "There's guys in here who don't think they've done anything wrong and no one here ever tells them otherwise". Out of the mouths of prisoners!

When I came on the job the whipping of prisoners for certain offences such as rape was provided for in the Criminal Code. I'm not calling for the return of the whip (On the other hand.....). Just for a day when the Corrections people had their heads screwed on halfway right, knew who they were protecting, and the inmates knew who was boss. As I've said in the past, lots of work to do. Mr. Harper, Mr. Day, you on the air?

Bob Cooper
Richmond, BC

An empty defence

2007-09-04T21:41:00.000-07:00

Now, I have nothing but the greatest respect for such storied members of the defense bar as Peter Ritchie, but really, the defense of stupidity for alleged mass murderer Robert "Willie" Pickton? Well, I suppose even a drowning man will reach for any piece of driftwood.

I'm not entirely sure "stupid," which, I believe, is a more than apt description of Pickton, is a sufficient defence for the DNA of scores of women found on his property. I mean, really, what kind of an idiot would think that it is just a coincidence that DNA of two murdered women would be found in the same place, let alone six or twenty six missing women?

We shall see in the coming days what exactly the defense of the apparently indefensible will be, but stupidity? Any port in a storm I suppose . . . .

The big hanging question for me in this is not whether Pickton is guilty, but who is the 2nd serial killer? Because, as sure as God made little green apples, there is another shoe to drop in this file.

Leo Knight

leo@primetimecrime.com

Perceptions are skewed

2007-08-27T21:19:00.000-07:00

It's heartening to know that Vancouver is, yet again, the world's most liveable city according to the Britmag The Economist.

Also, according to The Economist, one of the reasons for the selecetion is that the crime rate in Vancouer is low. Really?

Oddly enough, in the same week, the Vancouver Police Chief Constable Jim Chu held a press conference to state publicly that the crime rate (specifically property crime) was too high and that the Department had to go the extra mile in hiring a hundred new recruits in the coming year.

Anyone who is a regular visitor to downtownVancouver doesn't have to be reminded that the property crime rate is too high. The chunks of broken glass at their feet is reminder enough.

The Vancouver Board of Trade has made the issue the subject of at least two major reports and presentations of which I am aware. But, a significant issue nonetheless.

In every aspect and in every study, Vancouver is the property crime capital of North America. So, the world's most liveable city? Methinks not.

Leo Knight

leo@primetimecrime.com

Long goodbye has worn thin

2007-08-03T08:07:00.000-07:00

It's nice to see the Calgary Sun has finally realized their city's Chief Constable Jack Beaton is long past is Best By date. (With drugs and violence becoming the norm in the new Calgary, it's time to hit the road, Jack. Let us cut short this long goodbye)

For several years now I have been writing about the distinct lack of leadership by Beaton to the detriment of the citizens of Calgary and the good men and women of the Calgary Police Service. Oftentimes I have felt like a voice in the wilderness in trying to interest the so-called mainstream media despite a string of cases which showed the Service was in dire need of a real leader. (See All bluster and spin)

The crime situation in Calgary has gotten much worse under Beaton's watch. Never mind the increased violence that has accompanied the economic boomtimes, but look at the crackheads now prevalent downtown and in once-trendy parts of the Beltway. The Guardian Angels have now set up shop after its founder Curtis Sliwa took a much-publicized stroll through crack central.

Where was the Chief? A good question. He was busy conducting a witch hunt trying to find out which members of the Service had dared be critical of him with the authors of the now infamous websites Standfirm.biz and Code200.com, both now defunct. The result of that childish nonsense was that the cops in Cowtown were doing their level best to keep their heads down. Take the calls, do the job, but don't do anything which might remotely make one show up on Jack's radar lest one be thought of as a "witch."

Things were just starting to get back to what passed for normal in Beaton's regime, when Jack fell all over himself jumping to conclusions and he suspended two cops trying to actually fight the filth that now permeates that city. And he did so simply because some questionable video footage was broadcast by the media trying to make out that a local crackdealer was somehow the new Rodney King. Beaton hadn't even bothered to get the officers' side of the story before he clambered up on his soapbox to announce the summary suspensions. With that kind of support for the line staff, it's no wonder that he showed more than a 75% disapproval among members of the police service.

Despite the light speed suspension of two working cops, Beaton was positively glacial-like in dealing with allegations against a senior member of the service, a Staff Sergeant, who had been sued by a number of other police officers for defrauding them of almost a million dollars in a Ponzi scheme. That person was ultimately charged criminally despite Beaton's actions, not because of them.

Following a technical aquittal, and with the lawsuits still pending, Beaton restored the Staff Sergeant to full duty and then last month had the temerity to assign him to TAC - Calgary's Emergency Response Team or SWAT if you prefer - and the direct superior of an officer who lost over one hundred thousand dollars in the Ponzi scam and is one of the primary plaintiff's in the lawsuit. For the record, that Staff Sergeant has now declared bankruptcy to further ensure he doesn't see any type of justice for his actions.

Beaton's actions as Chief have been bizarre, questionable and sometimes downright dumb as he stumbled and bumbled his way pretending to be a leader of a modern police department with his poodle Alderman Craig Burrows at his side. But to deliberately allow the transfer of that Staff Sergeant and making him the direct report of one of his victims is pure, unadulterated arrogance. Or stupidity. Or incompetence. I am not sure which.

Beaton's long goobye has worn thin. He needs to go now. And for the good of the citizens of Calgary and a long-suffering police service, he should take his poodle with him.

Leo Knight

leo@primetimecrime.com

Moderated comments

2007-07-04T20:23:00.000-07:00

While I like to let anyone have their say with comments, I have had to remove the commments from my most recent post on the nullification of charges against Calgary Cst. Taufiq Shah. There are a number of reasons, but chief among them is that posted comments need to remain within the laws of Canada. This includes libel and other aspects of priviledge.

Please guide youselves accordingly folks. I want to be able to offer the ability to post unmoderated comments, but I simply cannot when someone says something that crosses the line. I hope you all understand.

Thank you for your cooperation.

Leo Knight

leo@primetimecrime.com

Chief wrong . . .again

2007-07-03T20:17:00.000-07:00

Calgary Police Service Chief Constable Jack Beaton has suffered yet another defeat in his attempt to stifle any and all criticism of his regime and all that is wrong with that department, with the ruling that the presiding officer in the disciplinary proceedings against Cst. Taufiq Shah lacked the jurisdiction to hear the matter. And that, as a direct result, the five charges against Shah were " a nullity."

Beaton will no doubt be apoplectic about this. Right from the get-go he has displayed a ham-handedness in the way he has handled the criticisms levelled by a website, standfirm.biz and its successor, code200.com.

In the Fall of 2004 the website standfirm.biz first appeared and actually lasted only about a week in the public domain. It disappeared almost as suddenly as it had appeared. It was manifestly critical about senior management of the Calgary Police Service, but most especially about Chief Jack Beaton, calling him a "rotten apple" and saying management was corrupt.

About a month or so later, the site re-invented itself as Code200.com, which is the CPS code for Officer needs Help.

Code200 was a little toned down from Standfirm, but the intent was clear - Beaton was the single biggest problem within the service.

Well, as time and Beaton would demonstrate, despite thirty or so years of policing, he had not the typical skin like a rhino hide, but, more like that of an infant recently expelled from the womb. Beaton enlisted the services of a close and former associate, a retired cop earning his crust as a private investigator. And, for some reason, someone to this day who Beaton refuses to identify, instead cloaking his name in all formal documentation by a ridiculous pseudonym. And, to my knowledge, the Chief has never even claimed a reason to do so which makes any sense.

But I digress.

Beaton used a sledge hammer to kill the critical gnat in April of 2005. I won't regurgitate all the details. (Click on Travesty of Justice plays out in Calgary to refresh your mind.)

On May 3rd, 2005, the officer who was apparently behind the the web site, put his hand up and said, "it was I." And just to make sure there was no doubt, he did it on the CBC evening news and repeated it in the morning paper.

But Jack continued his witch hunt ( See The bath is getting crowded ) to try and ensure that anyone critical of his ham-fisted regime was hunted down and dealt with. Well, a funny thing happened on the way to the Forum. . . so to speak. The Calgary Police Service and the Police Commission were determined to have broken the law in the way they prosecuted Police Act complaints.

In a nutshell, the legislation says the police have three months from the time the complaint is received until a charge is levied against the officer. Should an extension be required, the police have to apply for an extension to the Police Commission.

In February 2003, Chief Beaton and the Calgary Police Commission decided the legislation didn't really apply to them and they tried an end run around it when the Police Commission gave an arbitrary three month buffer to the CPS in all cases. Never mind that the statute used language containing the words "shall" and "must", the supercilious Police Commission and the management of the Police Service decided a simple motion passed by the Commission would negate the legislation. Arrogance? Naivete? I don't know and neither did the Presiding Officer, Supt. Logar of the Edmonton Police Service. But what he did know is that the abuse of process in the "investigation" of Cst. Shah resulted in the lack of jurisdiction for the presiding officer and the nullification of all charges against Cst. Shah.

But this is not simply the dismissal of charges based on a technicality. Quite the contrary. The process in and of itself has now called into question all of the Police Act investigations since February 2003.

Each and every internal investigation is now in jeopardy in Calgary. And so too are any concluded matters with "findings" against serving members. The damage Beaton has done with his ill-advised witch hunt is substantial. One hopes it wont be catastrophic.

Remind me, why is Beaton still in office?

Leo Knight

leo@primetime.com

Disingenuous or Dumb?

2007-06-23T12:13:00.000-07:00

Vancouver Mayor Sam Sullivan is either one of the most disingenuous local politicians in a long time or one of the dumbest.

When, in the last civic election campaign it became known that Sullivan had given an addict money to purchase drugs and had driven him around in his van ostensibly because Sullivan wanted to learn more about addiction or some such nonsense, I thought he must be an idiot.

But, he managed to run a successful campaign and in the year and a half or so since he has been mayor of Canada’s third largest city, he hasn’t done anything really outrageous or spectacular for that matter.

But, his statements in the media yesterday after the media reported that the Drake Hotel, purchased by the city for three times its assessed value, was owned by a numbered company which had Hells Angel East End chapter president John Peter Bryce as the sole company officer, was a surprise to him is outrageous.

Notwithstanding any other of the numerous public source reports, last year the Vancouver Sun ran a series about the biker gang called Hells Angels Inc. in which they detailed in depth the various business holdings of the Hells Angels and central to that were the real estate holdings of Bryce and other gang members.

Does Sullivan not read front page stories in major media about what is happening in the city he presides over? Equally, a minimum of research by city staffers doing due diligence on the purchase would have uncovered the ties.

No, there’s something else at play here. The taxpayers of the city of Vancouver are getting hosed here and an already wealthy, senior member of the outlaw biker gang is being made even richer with tax dollars. After paying three time the assessed value for a mere 24 rooms, Sullivan says he didn’t know.

Well, if he didn’t, he bloody well should have given that the homeless situation is his pet project. Disingenuous, incompetent, criminal or dumb? I don’t know. But I think the police need to get their nose into this whole deal and the quicker the better.

Leo Knight
leo@primetimecrime.com

Tasers aren't the enemy

2007-05-27T19:14:00.000-07:00

On June 23, 2004 Robert Wayne Bagnell died. According to a coroner's jury, he died of "restraint-associated cardiac arrest" due to acute cocaine intoxication and psychosis. And not, because Vancouver police officers used tasers to arrest and control the out-of-control man.

According to the report in the Vancouver Sun Bagnell's family were "disappointed" the coroner's jury didn't make any reccomendations. Such as . . .. . . what exactly?

Bagnell was the author of his own misfortune and nothing the family says will change that. He was on cocaine over-drive and destructive and violent. The police tried to just keep Bagnell contained until he came down and was more responsive. Circumstance forced their hand and the police opted to deploy tasers, considered non-lethal, to restrain and control Bagnell.

As happens sometimes when a taser is used on someone with a cocaine-fired heart, the electrical shock has an adverse effect on their cardio-vascular system. And sometimes when that happens, the already over-loaded heart shuts down. We can debate whether or not that is tragic in a different forum, but suffice to say that in all the cases of this type of thing happening, it was never a result of the taser use, but the result of what the people do to themselves.

But the hand-wringers seem to want to blame the police and force them to stop using tasers. The very thing they cry for when a cop under attack by some loser with a knife shoots the transgressor and the moaning starts: "why couldn't they have shot him in the leg? Boo-hoo-hoo . . .

The jury didn't quite say it as directly as I might have. But they were clear. Bagnall ingested way too much cocaine and it overloaded his system. That was why he died.

I'm sorry for the pain Bagnell put his family through and I sympathize with them. But, their anger is misplaced and the taser is a valuable weapon that allows the police to refrain from using the type of lethal force they would have previously had to use in so many instances.

The cops can't interview someone to determine if they are in the throes of cocaine psychosis prior to deploying a taser. Yet, the hand-wringers and the chattering class is too quick to blame the police instead of blaming the ones who are actually responsible and unfortunately, never accountable.

As a final thought, I picked up my weekend Vancouver Sun on Saturday. On the main break of the Westcoast (B) section there was a teaser in big bold print at the top saying: "Report condems tasers" pg. B11.

Yet, when one turned to page B11, one read the fair and balanced piece written by Neal Hall and linked above. What report? What condemnation of tasers? So, what was the editor reading when he placed that teaser on B1? Or, more accurately, was it more likely wishful thinking by a charter member of the chattering class that seems to be representative of the mainstream media these days?

Just asking.

Leo Knight

leo@primetimecrime.com

Media Sheep

2007-05-08T00:00:00.000-07:00

Years ago, when John Yorston hired me into the mewsroom of the now defunct Montreal Star, I was taught that jounalists had to question everything and to source what you were being told twice or more. I wonder where that dogma has gone in the mainstream media in Canada today.

Last week, Ontario Lieutenant Governor James Bartleman testified before the Air India inquiry that he had seen a piece of raw intelligence that indicated an attack was imminent on Air India and had promptly marched it over to an unnamed Mountie who said he had already seen the intel. Bartleman then said he'd heard about the Air India bombing in which 329 people lost their lives as he was packing the family up to go to the lake for the weekend. And for twenty plus years he said nothing!

The Central Canadian mainstream media may swallow this wholeheartedly as is their wont, but please, is there anyone in the real world, who believes that a career bureaucrat who was in the posession of some information that seemed to play out to be true, wouldn't engage in a "cover your ass" exercise by telling someone superior immediately after the event?

Give me a break!

Bureaucrats learn, very soon after they are weaned from the nipple, that they must engage in an exercise called CYA - Cover Your Ass. Go on, I defy you. Ask any civil servant what "CYA" means and you will hear the response "Cover Your Ass."

So, back to the career civil servant and now the Lieutenant Governor of Ontario. How is it possible that he warned the RCMP of an impending threat, heard that the threat was carried out and did absolutely nothing for over 20 years to cover his ass?

I call Bullshit, Your Excellency.

Your move.

And while I am on the subject of "bullshit", what is with lawyer Norm Boxall? He is representing some of the Air India families. He was chirping about the five months it took to get a warrant to intercept a primary target of the police investigation.

Excuse me! It is the lawyers who have created such a logjam for police to get intercept warrants in the first place. If this jackass wants to know what the problem is/was, perhaps he should look at his own learned friends.

Consider this quote from former Vancouver Police Homicide Sergeant on the subject: "A lawyer complaining that it takes too long to get a wiretap. Perhaps he might consider the fact that the original legislation which in itself was overly complex and cumbersome, was drafted by lawyers. Since then, decisions of the Supreme Court have made it even more complex and restrictive on the police as a result of........you guessed it......submissions by lawyers. Who stands ready to toss a wiretap should an 'i' not be dotted or a 't' crossed? Yup, judges, who used to be lawyers. Lawyers have turned Part Vl into such an impossible administrative monster that most cops run the other way rather than become involved in one."

But, back to the original point. Ontario's Lieutenant Governor has said something is so. He has produced no evidence to establish that what he says is true. In point of fact, his actions subsequently have not been indicative of the sequence of events to which he has testified.

And, the worst part is the sheep-like mainstream media have swallowed it - hook, line & sinker.

Leo Knight

leo@primetimecrime.com

Trouble in Paradise

2007-05-05T00:38:00.000-07:00

I'd say it's nice to be back from a spring sojourn to Hawaii. But it's not.

From Paradise to the reality of the nonsense that we seem to tolerate, without question, in our Deranged Dominion is a difficult transition.

First, news out of British Columbia that the three BC Ferry workers on duty on the bridge, that fateful night a year ago, when the Queen of the North ploughed into Gill Island resulting in the loss of the ship and two lives, were fired for not cooperating with the subsequent enquiries. And the oh-so-so-typical Left Coast response that their union will appeal.

While I would never attach the phrase ‘common sense’ and ‘union’ in the same sentence, have these idiots in this union lost whatever intelligence they were born with? Two innocent people are dead and a multi-million dollar piece of equipment they were responsible for is on the sea bed as a direct result of their actions. Who, if not the Officers on watch, are responsible?

They have demonstrated they have something to hide, hence their non-cooperation. BC Ferries have made them accountable for their actions. I would only ask what took them so long? The union needs to understand this is not the Hill they want to die on.

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And then there’s the story of Ontario Lieutenant Governor James Bartleman and his incredible tale that, while a Foreign Affairs intelligence analyst, he spotted something that suggested an attack was imminent on Air India immediately prior to the actual bombing in 1985 that took 329 lives.

Does he really expect us to believe that after being rebuffed by a Mountie he brought the intel to and being so upset when he learned of the downing of the Air India flight off the coast of Ireland as he loaded his family into a station wagon for their weekend trip, that he did absolutely nothing for twenty two years? He is either an idiot or utterly incompetent. Either should disqualify him for a job as Ontario Lieutenant Governor.

Well, perhaps not in Dalton McGinty’s Ontario.

Suffice to say his testimony before the Major inquiry into Air India does not stand a credibility test and certainly didn’t deserve the breathless headlines on the front pages of dailies across the country on Friday.

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And the kicker of the week is the knee-jerk reaction of the Chief Constable of Calgary Police Service after some cop-hating zipperhead shot some vanilla video of two Calgary cops arresting some uncooperative dopehead.

The video was sent to CPS Chief Constable Jack Beaton. A copy was sent, I am told, to Calgary Mayor Dave Bronconnier and copies to CTV and CBC. Okay. So what does the video show?

Abuse? Excessive force? Beatings? Police brutality? Well, not really. It shows two cops dealing with a street dopehead who is uncooperative. Along the way he takes a cuff and a bit of a drag when he won’t get up.

Umm, Jack, are you kidding me when you called that presser yesterday announcing the suspension of those junior officers? Are cops in Calgary no longer allowed to engage street assholes in the course of their duties anymore?

I carry no brief for Jack Beaton as the Chief Constable of the Calgary Police Service. In my opinion he is a lousy leader of a modern police service.

Cops he should be hanging out to dry, he seems to protect. People he should be protecting, he hangs out to dry. Why is that?

In my view Beaton is incompetent for the job he has. The Calgary Police Commission had every reason not to extend his contract in 2005. Why they extended him to 2007 should probably be subject to an independent investigation. But that is a separate matter.

The two junior officers in this video tape were doing their job. And in the real world, sometimes a cop’s job involves getting ‘hands on’. There are Use of Force provisions in the Criminal Code of Canada. Were these officers in breach of those regulations? I don’t know and I guarantee you, neither did Jack Beaton when he decided to deny them due process and suspended them based on 41 seconds of video that simply does not tell the whole story.

Why not wait until an investigation is done to render judgement?

Why would a previously indecisive Chief do that? Well, that is interesting in itself. A serving Staff Sergeant is accused of defrauding fellow members of over a million dollars in a Ponzi scheme and Beaton twirls on his thumb. Two junior officers are caught on video trying to do their job and allegedly rough up a dope dealer in a minor way and he suspends them before the horse is even out of the gate? What is he up to?

Beaton is staring at a huge embarrassment in the face of the witch hunt he conducted to find out who was behind the web site Stand Firm that was very critical of his administration. I would guess that he is seeking a quick hit PR win to blunt that hit. To accomplish that he will need to trash the careers of two young police officers who were just trying to serve the citizens of the city of Calgary. And that is tragic.

The men and women who are prepared to get “hands on” with the criminal element who are permeating the city of Calgary in recent years of economic boom are deserving of the support of their Chief. Beaton has failed the brave men and women of the Calgary Police Service yet again. And in doing so, in my opinion, he has failed the citizens of the city of Calgary. Yet again.

Leo Knight
leo@primetimecrime.com

Justice is a myth in Canada

2007-04-22T09:52:00.000-07:00

It is quite amusing really to hear the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada, Beverly McLachlin, say that it's a myth that Canadian courts are soft on crime. It is perhaps frightening to think that she might really believe it.

I guarantee that there is not a right-thinking person in this country who is not a criminal, a Liberal or a lawyer who would agree with the perspective spouted by McLachlin. It simply doesn't matter which case you look at in Canada, justice is never done. There is a legal system in Canada, but it can hardly be described as a justice system.

It doesn't matter whether we are talking about the courts in Manitoba who are blatently ignorant about the Hells Angels or the provincial court in BC who simply cannot or will not jail habitual criminals for anything longer than a couple of weeks despite dozens and dozens of previous convictions and in the face of the highest property crime rates on the continent, the courts in Canada are failing the citizens of this country day after day. And nothing the Chief Justice tries to spin will alter that fact.

A regular reader wrote to me this week after yet another judicial outrage. Here are his comments unedited.

************************************

When are we going to learn? When they blow up the CN Tower, the Lion's Gate Bridge at rush hour? Acts of terrorism are acts of war and must be treated as such if we are to have any hope of defending ourselves. Liberals like Bill Clinton characterize it as a law enforcement problem which should be addressed with the Marquis of Queensbury Rules.

What a beauty this judge is. I can't imagine how they missed appointing her to the provincial courts in BC. She allows the wife to go surety while at the same time noting that she has previously lied to the court and voicing concern that she will not carry out her responsibilities. Then she takes comfort in a Supreme Court of Canada decision that offers the 'suggestion' that the danger represented by a terrorist declines with the time he spends in custody. As Ed McMahon used to say on the Johnny Carson show, "I did not know that". I guess spending time in a Canadian correctional facility miraculously saps the rabid hatred these people have felt for us all their lives. Right. Like it rehabilitates ordinary criminals and makes them fear going back. I also didn't realize the learned judges of the Supreme Court have become such experts in international terrorism.

In addition to the obvious risk, there's the expense of the physical and technical surveillance required to monitor this individual and ensure he respects his 'extreme form of house arrest'. The liberals would have us believe that we should all be happy to foot that bill because by protecting Mr. Jaballah's rights we are simply protecting ourselves. I know they like to think that Mr. Jaballah and his ilk are drawn to Canada for its diversity, tolerance, and multiculturalism and, of course, have no axe to grind against us because, after all, we're not Americans. Call me suspicious, fascist, racist, whatever you like, but when it comes to terrorists I don't believe anything they do or anywhere they go is coincidental or without purpose.

Based solely upon what was written in this article, Mr. Jaballah should have been on his way home a long time ago and the judge had the benefit of a lot more evidence than that. It galls me that all that is keeping this killer here is the 'suggestion' (as opposed to 'evidence', 'high probability' , 'certainty') of torture should he be deported to his native Egypt. Sorry folks, but when the presence of a committed foreign terrorist (Read: 'enemy combatant) threatens Canada's Security and that of it's allies, in my mind the situation should be resolved in favor of Canada.

This is war and our rights trump his. Plain and simple.

Bob Cooper

Richmond, BC

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The Chief Justice can spin all she wants. The evidence to the contrary is before us each and every day in our courts.

Leo Knight

leo@primetimecrime.com

The 'Thought Police' alive and well

2007-04-16T21:18:00.000-07:00

Following today's appearance by former RCMP Commissioner Giuliano Zaccardelli it would seem that in today's Force, the buck, such as it is, doesn't stop anywhere.

Since I first wrote Are the winds of change blowing in Ottawa? I have received email messages from police officers across the country. The men and women at the sharp ends of things in the service of this country are in agreement that something drastically needs to change in the culture of today's RCMP.

One writer, I thought, was particularly poignant. I asked for and received permission to reprint his thoughts in this space as long as I witheld his name to protect his career. A sad statement in and of itself now isn't it? Here is his letter to me:

**********************************************************************

Much ink has been spilled with respect to recent and not so recent revelations of fraud, corruption, nepotism and cronyism at the most senior levels of the RCMP. Although it may have been received with some degree of shock by the Canadian public, it’s a fair bet to state that no regular or civilian member of the RCMP would have been surprised by these headlines.

The repercussions for the members who dared to speak out also came as no surprise. The words “culture of corruption” and “culture of vengeance”, attributed to members of parliament describing the RCMP, are all too fitting. Truer words have never been spoken. Any member, whether dealing with senior management or low level supervisors have undoubtedly felt the wrath for going against the grain and exposing improprieties. It is the ultimate sin! Truth be known, honesty and integrity are regularly discouraged and viewed with scorn. The Image of the Force is far more important.

There are many questions being asked by the public, by members and by members of parliament. How could this have been allowed to take place? Where are the checks and balances? Men and women in power will often give themselves tools to enhance their ability to rule and will often abuse these tools when situations arise which could affect their grip. The RCMP has given itself such a tool and they do not hesitate to use it.

The public, members of the RCMP and legislators should look no further than the RCMP Act. This powerful tool of intimidation, which contains the Code of Conduct, is the weapon of choice when attempting to silence members. It’s deliberately vaguely worded “catch all” sections, which permit senior management to make square pegs fit into round holes, can and do discipline members for exercising their S.2 Charter rights of freedom of thought, belief and expression. The fundamental freedoms that all Canadians enjoy are routinely denied to RCMP members. If my identity was known, I would be ordered to resign from the Force within 14 days or be dismissed. How’s that for freedom of expression?

As long as the Commissioner of the RCMP and the Senior Executive Committee are given absolute power, they will use it. And use it with a ruthlessness usually associated with totalitarian and dictatorial regimes. There is one way to solve this problem…let the members speak without the fear of reprisals. Repeal the sections of the RCMP Act that forbid criticism of the organization. A Royal Commission on the abuses endured by members of the RCMP would have Canadians glued to their televisions….that is why it will never happen.

The only reason the Image of the RCMP has continued to be a positive one is not because of the accomplishments of its membership, it’s because anything that has the possibility to tarnish its image, from within, is simply not permitted. Cover ups abound, members are silenced every day, threatened with disciplinary action or dismissed for having integrity. If anybody ever questioned just how serious the problem is, I would point to Deputy Commissioner Barb George’s recent statements indicating her misleading statements to a parliamentary committee are protected by parliamentary privilege. Thank you for thumbing your nose at our elected representatives Deputy Commissioner, you are a true model of the Mission, Vision and Values of the Force. The rot is not exclusive to Ottawa but is entrenched in every single Division across Canada.

Senior management has no fear because it controls everything. The Public Complaints Commission against the RCMP uses RCMP members to conduct their investigations and their findings are turned over to the Commissioner, who has the final say to accept or deny them. The Force’s internal investigations sections frequently have their strings pulled by the puppet masters at the top. Double standards abound. Interference and obstruction are standard operating procedure. Officers who conduct themselves in a disgraceful manner are routinely let off with nothing more than verbal reprimands while frontline members are fined, transferred, demoted, dismissed and ridiculed. It truly is good to be King!

Name witheld by request.

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A pretty damning condemnation of the status quo, wouldn't you say?

Leo Knight

leo@primetimecrime.com

A dubious decision

2007-04-10T21:04:00.000-07:00

Every now and again a court renders a decision that would appear, for all intents and purposes, that the members of that court have lost whatever touch with the reality to which they might have, at one time, laid claim.

And then there's the Manitoba Court of Appeal and their incredible - no, unbelieveable - decision, as reported in the Winnipeg Free Press (Hells Angel allowed to chat with biker buddies, says high court), in the case of Hells Angel Shane Kirton who had pled guilty to an unprovoked, vicious assault on an unsuspecting bar patron. And not, I might add, his first go 'round with the law.

But, back to the decision at hand.

The Court of Appeal overturned the decision of Queen's Bench Justice Holly Beard to impose conditions on Kirton that he refrain from contact with his brother Hells Angels for the duration of his probation. Apparently, according to the Appeal Court, that condition infringes on his right to freedom of association guaranteed in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and that the lower court should not have taken judicial notice that the Hells Angels are a criminal organization.

Chief Justice Richard Scott said, "It is hard to escape the conclusion that the sentencing judge was led astray by her preoccupation with the accused’s involvement with the Hells Angels.”

Oh? And why would she not? They have been found to be a criminal organization by superior courts in Ontario and British Columbia. The presumably well-read justices of the Manitoba Court of Appeal seem to have not read those decisions or a plethora of books written on the subject. There is simply no basis for them to assert that the lower court judge "could not" take judicial notice of that.

Equally, the Court of Appeal seemed to be fixated on the fact that the assault was committed when Kirton wasn't wearing his Hells Angels patch and therefore wasn't using his affiliation with the outlaw motorcycle gang in committing the assault. In doing so, the Court of Appeal demonstrated they have a profound lack of understanding of the Hells Angels.

Kirton was wearing clothing that clearly showed he was a member of the Hells Angels, who exist and further their individual criminal enterprises using intimidation fostered by an image which has been carefully cultivated. That the Manitoba Court of Appeal failed to recognize this demonstrates either their ignorance of reality or their complicity with, or corruption by, the biker gang.

The bottom line here is that the Hells Angels have been determined to be a criminal enterprise in BC and Ontario by superior, not provincial, courts. Gangsterism prosecutions have been filed across the country. To suggest that a convicted member of the Hells Angels, on probation, should not be limited in communication with other members of an ongoing criminal enterprise is blatently stupid or utterly corrupt.

There is no other possibility that I can see. I wonder which it is.

Leo Knight

primetimecrime.com

Are the winds of change blowing in Ottawa?

2007-04-03T21:00:00.000-07:00

For your outstanding leadership abilities, your commitment to the advancement of women in Canadian policing, and for your dedication to the effective delivery and management of human resources, wherein you have become an influential role model for all police officers. - 2006 Order of Merit of the Police Forces citation given to RCMP Deputy Commissioner Barbara George

The trouble with awards is that once given, they cannot be easily taken back. The other problem with national awards is that they are seldom given to those who actually deserve them. Too often they are given for political reasons, to individuals who just happen to be in a certain position or to members of the bureaucracy who tend to exercise some control on these things.

Barbara George was just another senior level bureaucrat when the Governor General pinned the award on her chest. What had she really done to deserve it? Difficult to say. She spent a career being a carpet cop and wouldn't have the faintest idea what a real cop does for a living let alone being a "role model" for anything other than a bureaucrat wanting to climb the greasy pole in a federal government ministry.

Do I sound disparaging of the now suspended Deputy Commissioner Barbara George? Sorry, I don't mean to. But, right after she was suspended by interim Comissioner Bev Busson following the testimony of several RCMP officers before the Public Accounts Committee concerning abuses of the Mounties' pension fund and their attempts to get light shed on the subject, the Mounties distanced themselves from her pronto.

George herself testified that neither she nor former Commissioner Giuliano Zaccardelli had anything to do with hindering the investigation. Testimony supported by phone call recordings and other corroboration seemed to dispute that position. The Mounties outlined an atmosphere of corruption and condonation of corruption permeating the highest ranks.

Shortly after George was suspended, the RCMP erased any reference to her on their website. It was blindingly fast. Fortunately, the internet is a powerful tool and much could still be located. A review of her career highlights shows she was nothing more than a carpet cop. And therin lies the answer to all of this.

In 1984 the RCMP was politicized and the Comissioner was made a Deputy Minister with all of the political realities that entailed. In reality, the RCMP has become yet another moribund political bureaucracy.

This is not to belittle the hard-working members at the sharp end of things. No, not in the least. When I joined the RCMP two years after its centennial celebrations, I was given a quick education into the Force by a senior member. He explained the machinations of the Force as "A hundred and two years of tradition unhampered by progress."

And that brings us full-circle to the scandal plaguing the RCMP that led to the suspension of Deputy Commissioner Barbara George. Throughout the 90's and the the first part of the new century, the Liberal Party of Canada created a culture of those who were "entitled to their entitlements" among the bureaucracy. Why should the RCMP be any different?

Well, the reality was they weren't as evidenced by the misappropriation of money from the pension fund by the carpet cops mired in the bureaucracy.

When members of the Force tried to raise concerns about the Pension Fund, the carpet cops shined them on, neutralized them by transfer or completely marginalized them. This is tried and true tactics by the carpet cops. Ask Bob Stenhouse or Robert Read. They have both been victimized by that culture.

Well, that corrupt culture has now been laid bare to the Public Accounts Committee. A senior carpet cop has been suspended. It remains to be seen if the price to be paid is real or mere window dressing and it is business as usual at Headquarters in Ottawa.

The RCMP should use this period in their history to reinvent themselves in their role as the national police force. And, what is now 134 years of tradition needs to finally see some progress.

Leo Knight
leo@primetimecrime.com

Time to go

2007-03-29T21:19:00.000-07:00

The job of Chief Constable of a modern police service is a difficult one. The occupier of the office has to be one part politician, one part police officer and one part masochist. In Calgary, it would seem, that Chief Constable Jack Beaton has managed to get and keep the top job without any of the required skills.

Having met Beaton, I am pretty sure he is not an idiot. So, why does he keep doing and saying such idiotic things?

Without delving too deeply into it, let’s take a peek at the past few days.

The Calgary Police Association this past week released the results of a poll of its members which said, in a nutshell, that the rank and file had no confidence in the leadership of the Calgary Police Service and that the vast majority wanted a new chief to be recruited from outside the service.

Pretty stunning stuff really. Beaton has been, frankly, an embarrassment to the taxpayers of Calgary with some of the idiotic things he has said publicly. Where to start? Hmm…well there was the lunacy he spouted about not thinking that police officers in China wouldn’t be able to speak English He apparently found out this little gem of the incredibly obvious when he was in China on an indefensible junket. . . sorry, recruiting drive.. I mean really. . . .if you actually thought that and found out the reality when you went there, would you admit how stupid you were publicly? Jack Beaton did.

The reality is that, regardless of what the latest garden gnome put forward by the police commission to try and defend their ridiculous decision to extend Beaton’s contract in 2005, Beaton has lost (if he ever had) the confidence of the rank and file membership of the Calgary Police Service.

Without the buy-in of those at the sharp end of things, no purported leader can be effective. Beaton clearly has not got that confidence. He has said he will leave when his current contract expires in December. So, he is now a lame duck. And an unrespected lame duck to be exact.

Why, in the face of that, will he not resign? Most involved in the police service have no confidence in him. How and why would any leader who does not have the support and confidence of his troops think they can and should remain in their position?

It really is a mystery. But then given everything that has transpired demonstrating how ineffectual a leader Beaton has been, I suppose it really isn’t surprising.

Beaton has proven himself to be nothing more that a small-minded man who cannot tolerate any criticism. Even though that criticism is well-deserved. He is of little consequence. The proud men and women who serve the citizens of Calgary have no confidence in Jack Beaton. Period. So, why is he still there?

Leo Knight
primetimecrime@gmail.com