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SCENE OF THE CRIME. Assembling evidence i only the

first step in the onerous process prescribed by the justice

system as the social response to crime.

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Balancing the rights of.
victims and criminals |

This is the second of a series
of three articles on crime in the

_ greater Terrace area, based on

an address to the Terrace and

District Chamber of Commerce

by Insp. Larry Yeske, officer-in-

|. charge of the Terrace RCMP

detachment, and interviews with
Insp. Yeske by Terrace Review
reporter Tod Strachan,

OME LOCAL RESIDENTS
were critical of the way
police handled an unruly
mob last Hallowe’en. The police,
realizing. 18 uniformed officers
do not forcibly control an unruly
mob of 200 youths, stayed back

«| during the rampage of wilful
- damage, They observed from a

distance and made note of the
description of offenders while
plain clothes officers wandered
‘within the crowd doing the same

_| ‘thing. The situation soon cooled
' off and the crowd began to

disperse. It was then that police
moved in and arrests were made.

Some people, however, main-
tain that the police should have

moved in on the mob and even
called in the fire department to

cool the teens off. But that

would have meant using force —

and compromise the safety of
everyone involved: police

And as one local resident dis

covered, trying to use force in a”
situation like that is the wrong)

‘thing to do. After his vehicle

was pelted with eggs, he got out

of his pickup truck with the

. intention of administering a little

justice. The outcome was several
hundred dollars in damages to

his truck, and a shopping cart

swinging spree that fortunately

didn’t end in serious injury or

' called

death. .
Most people can understand
the need for victims to sce jus-
tice done, however, and they
tend to excuse those who in
frustration take things into their
own hands. Yeske tells the story
of a Stewart man who captured
a thief inside his own home. He
the police and the

- offender was charged with break

and enter and arrested. But he
never went to jail.

Because of the backlog in. the
court system here and everyone

‘else in Canada, the offender was

subjected to a lengthy delay
before his case came before a
judge. The defence attorney
argued that his client had been
denied his right to a speedy trial
as is detailed in our Charter of
Rights. The judge agreed, and
the charges were dropped.

This angered the Stewart man
who, after several. trips to Ter-
race for court appearances, had
seen justice denied. According to
Yeske, he told police: "The next
time somebody breaks into a
house... I’m not going to call
you. I’m going to call an ambu-
lance,"

Most everyone would agree
that this Stewart resident would

be wrong to follow through with
his threat. His thinking in fact,
is dangerous. It’s the type of
thinking that would lead to even
more disorder and eventually
chaos. But we have to do some-
thing. And if not this, what?

There are a number of things
that can be done, says Yeske,
But the law-abiding majority has
to get at the root of the problem
first, and then do something
about it.

“"You have to take an active
interest in your community,"
says Yeske. "You have to

‘Involve yourselves in programs

that will enhance your pride of
living in this community."
Involving yourself means doing
things like becoming more fam-
iliar with the types of problems
that face some youths and mem-
bers of their family. It means
joining things like the Neigh-
bourhood Watch program and
learn what to watch for and what

information to record. It means .

looking around your neighbour-
hood and place of work to make
Sure the premises are secure and
well lit. And it means a willing-
ness to testify in court if it will
bring an offender to justice.

is to lobby governnients for
legislation that doesn’t respect

the offender’s rights more than

"The next thing you have to do

ah

Yeske says that when RCMP
stop an impaired driver they take
the driver to the police station
and administer a breathalyser
test. This gives the police” the
evidence they need in court.

But after the test, if the driver
promises to behave himself and
not drive until he’s sober, they
have to let him go. All too
often, though, the driver doesn’t
keep his promise and after being
picked up for the second time
the police can jail the offender.

Is this acceptable? Or is it giv-

ing a drunk driver. a second.

chance to kill? The public must,

decide, and if they feel. it is
necessary, voice their concern.”
There is also’ the “Young
Offenders Act. Does it protect
the public or the offender? "The
Young Offenders Act has cre-
ated problems for us,”
Yeske. "And also a lack. of

respect on the part of the offend-

ing youth.”

Under the Young Offenders
Act, people under the age of 12
are "children" and there is little
the police can do if’they break

‘the law. People between the ages

of 12 and 17 are considered
"young persons", and they can

be charged under the Young |

Offenders Act if they break the
law. But is the Young Offenders
Act effective?

those of the victim," says Yeske.
"The public must do that. The
individual person has rights, and
I respect that, but it cannot be
used to protect the offender."
Here, Yeske is referring to the

- Charter of Rights and how it is

being interpreted in court. As
our friend in Stewart discovered,
too often the Charter protects the
offender and not the victim. And
this has the negative result of
instilling a lack of respect for

the law.

"There has been a major shift
in offender’s rights," says Yeske.
"When it (the Charter) was first
designed, it was to be a rather
Utopian idea of people’s rights
in Canada.

"We seem to see more and
more where the courts are con-
cerned with procedural steps
taken by the police. And this is
more so with the concern for the
steps we use, aS opposed to

whether or not the person com-.

mitted an offence in the first
place. That seems to be the
impression."

What can you do about it? "We
do our part regularly,” says
Yeske. But it will take public
pressure to change the system.

And Yeske invites everyone with
a concern to write their Member
of Parliament in Ottawa and
their MLA in Victoria.

As another example of how the
system ties the hands of the law

is seen in impaired driving.

In Terrace over the past four
years, the vandalism statistics
look like this: In 1988, there
were 616 incidents, in 1989
there were 505, in 1990, 514,
and last year, to the end of

November, there were 595 inci-

dents of vandalism.

The cost of vandalism damages
in the first.11 months of 1991
has been estimated to be around
$15,000 for incidents in which
the damage was greater than
$1,000, and a total of $300,000
for all 595 incidents that
occurred to the end of Novem-
ber. And you pay for this. Either
through higher insurance pre-

miums or an inflated Price at the

checkout stand,

It should be noted that the
number of incidents listed above.
includes hit and run where it
cannot be. proven who caused
the damage. But a great number
of the vandals are young
offenders who often have noth-
ing better to do, and the penalty
for the crime may or may not be
severe enough to act as a deter-
rent.

says

NEXT WEEK:

Vandalism and the
Criminal Code

The Young Offenders

Voluntary fines

Oa ae emery

oe crime eo ee LON ns