Kamloops defense lawyer not confident in Eby’s plan to clean up streets

Criminal defense lawyer Joe Killoran from Jensen Law in Kamloops says Eby’s plan won’t work to take more dangerous people off the streets.

“The idea that we’re just going to address the root causes of this by restricting bail I don’t think will have much of an effect,” he said. “People already get detained. Some of these so-called ‘prolific offenders’ are people who have been detained and spent a lot of time in jail already. Jail hasn’t fixed anything and it won’t fix anything. It never does.”

He says it’s far cheaper to provide the vulnerable with proper housing and addiction supports than it is to incarcerate them. According to stats in 2016, the national average to house an inmate is nearly $110,000 per year — about $73,000 per year in B.C.

“I understand there’s a satisfying feeling that the person on the street makes me feel unsafe, let’s lock them up. But unless you’re planning to lock them up for his entire life, which is enormously expensive — more expensive than housing them — you’re going to have to figure out what to do after that,” said Killoran. “You’ve locked him up, you’ve increased the chances his problems become worse now. You’ve separated him from any social supports, you’ve isolated him, you’ve engaged in punitive behaviours that won’t help. Okay, what now? What about when he or she gets out?”

Killoran also takes issue with the term “catch and release” that’s been bantered about in the media across the province, but in Kamloops as well. Police saying they arrest a person, then see them on the streets not long after.

“We had a former police superintendent who loved saying that, Syd Lecky. It’s not really happening. I represent my clients at bail hearings all the time and they get detained,” noted Killoran. “There’s no catch and release. Clients get detained routinely. Crown seeks their detention in jail, pending release, there’s a standard that comes from the Supreme Court of Canada and the Criminal Code and they seek their release on one of three grounds: they won’t show up for court, they present a danger to keep committing offense, or confidence in the Administration of Justice would be shaken if they were released.”

In an interview late Tuesday afternoon with CFJC Today, new Kamloops RCMP superintendent Jeff Pelley responded to claims there is no catch and release going on.

He notes police have challenges at times with prolific offenders who are released and re-offend within a short period of time, and RCMP have little control over how offenders are handled in the judicial process.

“It’s not our decision to hold them in jail. We have them appear before the courts after a charge recommendation, and to be frank we have been frustrated with some offenders that maybe released repeatedly,” noted Pelley. But we also had some successes as well, and that tends to be a case-by-case basis. We’ve had a number of repeat offenders, or what we call prolific offenders, that have been released into the community repeatedly and we continue to focus on them.”

Killoran added, “Sometimes people are arrested for possession of drugs or shoplifting or something like that. The choice then is, do we detain that person without a trial for three months, which is how long it takes before you get a bail review. Do you throw somebody in jail without a trial for 90 days? I’m hesitant to do that. If I was arrested, I would want to have a chance at bail.”

The BC Prosecution Service responded to CFJC Today via email with some insight into the current bail process.

“Under the Criminal Code, every person arrested for an offense is legally entitled to be released by the police or brought before a judge for a bail hearing as soon as possible,” the email read.

It added, “The Criminal Code requires police and judges to exercise a ‘principle of restraint’ and give primary consideration to releasing the accused at the earliest opportunity, on the least onerous conditions with which they can reasonably comply.”

For residents in Kamloops worried about their safety in the community, Killoran says it’s justified. However, he says the people just need help.

“If you think of them as fellow citizens of Kamloops, people who are having a very hard time, I think approaching from a way of what can we do as a society, as a community, to help them and then help ourselves feel safer, I think you’ll land on solutions like health care, safe drug supply, housing.”

by Chad Klassen

Kamloops defense lawyer not confident in Eby’s plan to clean up streets

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