Image Credit: Submitted

By Dylana Milobar

RANDY LAMPREAU

Family of Kamloops man who died in RCMP cells calls for different approach to public intoxication

Jul 26, 2019 | 2:47 PM

KAMLOOPS — The family of a man who died in Kamloops RCMP cells is calling for a different approach to public intoxication issues.

Lenora Starr is the sister-in-law of 49-year-old Randy Lampreau, who was found dead in his jail cell this past March.

After being presented with the results of an investigation into his death yesterday (July 25), Starr and the rest of Lampreau’s family say they will continue to push for system change.

A BC Coroners Service reported concluded the cause of death was inflammation of the heart muscles. Methamphetamine toxicity was also reported as a significant factor in Lampreau’s death.

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An investigation by the Independent Investigations Office found that police did nothing wrong in terms of handling Lampreau after he was brought in. But questions are being raised about intoxicated people being detained.

Policy Director of the BC Civil Liberties Association, Michael Vonn, says public intoxication should be viewed through a public health lens, instead of a criminal one.

“We appreciate that the police sometimes find themselves in the place saying, ‘we really have no other recourse other than to hold people for their own interests.’ But of course, the problem with that is really exemplified in this case,” she says, “where it is a real question whether signs and symptoms of the kind of distress that this person was eventually going to die from would have been picked up through a health care lens in ways that they would not, of course, because the police are not trained in that.”

IIO Chief Civilian Director, Ron MacDonald says normal cell checks are done by a civilian employee or guard every 15 minutes. The IIO’s investigation found that was what happened with staff handling Lampreau.

“In this case, that included on some occasion, rousing him (Lampreau) to see if he was talkative,” MacDonald explains, “and in other occasions, although he was allowed to sleep for a some few hours, he was checking on him to determine if he could see if he was breathing and still moving to a certain extent.”

Given that employees working in detachments are not usually trained medical professionals, MacDonald says it’s unfair for employees to be expected to decide about how serious a person’s intoxication level is, and what substance they may have in their system.

“To be fair, there are hundreds and thousands of cases where that happens, and everything works out fine,” he says. “However I do believe that it’s still a question that ought to be considered in a broader sense — is this the right place for intoxicated people?”

ADVOCATING FOR CHANGE

While it was found police acted within the standard of care expected, Vonn says that standard is what needs to be changed. She says taking care of someone who is possibly suffering with a medical condition should not be left to police.

“Almost two decades of advocacy have gone into saying there should be something loosely called ‘ the sobering centre model’, that allows other kinds of monitoring,” she says. “The police are not trained, the police are not qualified in this regard, and shouldn’t be left to hold this very important population in relation to monitoring.”

Now given some answers, Lampreau’s sister-in-law, Lenora Starr, says the family plans to continue advocating for change.

“Putting them in jail is obviously not the best answer. It’s been shown and documented repeatedly as we had heard today (July 25),” she says. “So this is just one more statistic, this is one more case. And definitely as a family, we’re going to do everything we can to make Randy’s passing not be for nothing.”

Starr says moving away from putting intoxicated people into jail cells could save lives.

“We want to prevent other families from having to go through what we’ve gone through, and for individuals not to have to go through what Randy went through.”
– Lenora Starr

Moving forward, Vonn says a potential sobering centre model would not be the exact same for every community.

“Every community is going to have a different model, I think, on the basis of what is feasible within that community. But we can’t just say that smaller communities should be exempt from this,” Vonn explains. “The concerns about substance use, and the health care issues that pertain to that are alive in every size of community in this province. So while we can see that the model may look different and there may be community specific framings of what that looks like, the conversation around how to bring that about must occur.”