Image Credit: CFJC Today

By Ashley Legassic

R. V. JORDAN

City of Kamloops to hire more RCMP staffers to help with major crime investigations

Jan 9, 2020 | 11:50 AM

KAMLOOPS — After years of a Supreme Court of Canada decision significantly impacting police departments, the City of Kamloops is taking steps to help out the Kamloops RCMP.

At the end of 2019, Kamloops RCMP Supt. Syd Lecky said in a news conference that the detachment was working closely with the City to try to come up with solutions for problems arising out of a 2016 Supreme Court of Canada ruling.

Lecky said since the R. v. Jordan ruling in 2016, officers have been concerned that suspects are walking free without charges.

“R. v. Jordan is a game changer for policing. It is for us here, it is for everywhere in Canada,” Lecky said. “It has had profound impacts on the manner in which police process cases and, generally speaking, the charge approval can only be sought once the investigation is totally complete.”

R. v. Jordan set out new framework for what is considered a reasonable amount of time within which a suspect can be charged and tried — 18 months for cases tried in provincial courts without a preliminary inquiry, and 30 months for cases tried in provincial courts after a preliminary inquiry or in Supreme Court.

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This has had an impact on police detachments across the country.

“This results in situations where suspects are often arrested and later released with no charges,” Lecky said. “So earlier the question was asked, ‘Do we get worried when people are on bail and walking around?’ Well, that’s why we do get worried and R. v. Jordan has impacted us in that regard.”

The ruling has forced police departments to provide Crown counsel with all documentation for a case in a disclosure package before charges are approved, which can sometimes take upward of a year.

In an email to CFJC Today, Lecky says on top of the two data technicians currently working at the detachment, the City has agreed to hire two more.

“In this time of digital technology, often a police officer is tied up doing downloading of phones and computer devices. Two more data techs would help to free up officers to work on other parts of the investigation and help deliver the disclosure package in a more timely manner,” Lecky says.

He adds that this will “greatly help” with the volume of information that must be disclosed to Crown.