Police Oversight

One must suppose something must be done when justices take the initiative to scorn the manner in which police collect evidence when the letter of the law isn't being observed. After all, perfectly good - in the sense of incriminating - evidence is being tossed out the window, evidence that stands a good chance of convicting law-breakers, but their method of collection gives offence to the law.

Something as basic as securing a prior warrant before embarking on a house call? Don't these guys watch television? Seriously, is their basic investigative training that lacking of emphasis on due process that they really feel it's such a good idea to go off half-cocked and expect they'll be awarded honours? In all sincerity they try to do their jobs under often trying circumstances.

It's understandable that under some circumstances it might seem compelling to simply proceed, by-passing inconveniently lawful routine procedures. While doing so they risk losing the entire purpose of an investigation. No doubt about it, police work must be frustrating and often lacking the rewards that should be seen in the apprehension of criminals.

In ensuring that the law is fully respectful of peoples' foundational rights and observes the values of justice at work, the tedium of registering the letter-of-the-law when so much else intrudes and insists on attention, it can be understood that short-cuts appeal.

And it is offensive beyond belief when a justice insultingly chides an over-zealous, under-observant officer in the presence of the malefactors he has charged. So the Ottawa police has decided to do something about the spate of dismissals of evidence and judicial sarcasm and denunciations levelled at some members of the Ottawa Police Force.

Rules are not always meant to be broken. And the waste of time, energy and funding for a case gone off the rails when evidence is declared non-admissible because of the manner in which it was assembled represents utter failure. Irritating beyond patience. Giving the police force a black eye it truly doesn't need.

In essence, the police officers who got their wrists verbally slapped will not face any kind of official censure or penalty, since that isn't quite appropriate. A heightened sense of appreciation of the required routine preparatory to launching an investigation will be the order of the day.

To arrest a suspect and collect evidence in a manner as to reflect political correctness, actually.
Racial profiling, or a situation that rouses suspicion that such is the case is to be strictly off limits. And so too is human intelligence, common sense and the insights gained from experience. Sensitivity training accelerated.

Pity, that.