Pubdate: Sun, 05 Mar 2006 Source: Province, The (CN BC) http://www.canada.com/theprovince/news/unwind/story.html?id=98962437-e4b6-4cf8-9d6d-db09b2f4c527 Copyright: 2006 The Province Contact: http://www.canada.com/theprovince/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/476 Author: Mark Tonner Note: Sgt. Mark Tonner is a Vancouver police officer, whose column appears biweekly in Unwind. His opinions aren't necessarily those of the city's police department or board. He can be contacted at JUDGES NEED TO DEAL WITH CHRONIC OFFENDERS Slap On The Wrist: Sometimes I Have To Wonder What His Honour Was Thinking How does tarring people with the same brush differ from holding their feet to the flame? Both are mainstream expressions, but one will land you in trouble more quickly than the other. You tell me which way I've strayed. Last week, Vancouver police ran a Mr. W. into court for breaching conditions he had agreed to the previous time a judge turned him loose. W.'s history with the VPD shows him to be a property thief, driven by extremes of addiction. The man himself lays claim to a thousand-dollar-a-day crack cocaine habit. Three-quarters of an ounce every 24 hours, he insisted in a recent interview. It's unlikely anyone could really smoke that much rock but, even conservatively, the math is troubling. Let's speculate he smokes a mere $100 a day. I meet people like that, and they all pay for product the same way. In W.'s case, that means breaking into downtown businesses and parked cars, then running off with whatever's handy. Pawn shops and drug dealers take property at ten cents on the dollar, meaning our man commits crime to the tune of a thousand a day even to buy a hundred bucks worth of dope. This is worth belabouring. Regular folk lose hundreds of thousands a year, as long as the man is allowed to carry on. Monsieur W. is currently awaiting trial on three charges -- one for cocaine trafficking, one for break-and-enter and another for breaching bail conditions. Our magistrate took a look at him, saw he had no regard for promises made in court and set him free anyway. Rather than jailing him as an individual who refuses to obey release conditions before a trial date, the judge removed his curfew. Mr. W. gets to stay out all night again. B.C. judges have long complained they're not given enough information by police and Crown counsel -- that if only they were, we'd see sentences more fitting. Not this round. People from the VPD chronic offender unit made sure Crown lawyers had everything there was to know about Mr. W. Which is to say, a large body of information was handed over, including the man's bizarre criminal history and the fact he's been caught breaking release promises twice already in 2006. Crown counsel people presented it all, to no avail. As much as I enjoy laying blame, the tar brush doesn't come out at this point. Our judges are all over the map with chronic offenders, meaning that sometimes they do give reasonable sentences. A thief will receive a couple of days in jail from one judge, then 90 days in jail a week later, from another. Same guy, same offence, same B.C. court building. I can't imagine anyone donning judicial robes to betray a system of justice. B.C. judges must believe in what they're doing. Whether we're seeing leftover 1960s anti-authoritarianism or belief in the inherent beauty of humanity, the notions seem genuinely held. Chronic offender unit people and Crown counsel lawyers will continue providing information in court. Chronic offenders will continue to be kept under surveillance by police, as often as not being caught committing crimes within minutes of leaving court. I'll use this space to keep readers informed. If that's seen as holding judicial feet to the fire, then so be it. The rest of the city is in figurative flames. It would seem wrong for those able to make a difference to be left out.