Canada: The Rule of Law

"Corporal Catellier searched the accused’s vehicle with what I have found to be an absence of reasonable grounds to arrest the accused."
"This time, she [police service dog Doods] went to go sit and appeared to be startled by her rear-end hitting the concrete barrier on the passenger side of the van."
"He [expert witness] described the dog as very lackadaisical ... He said that dogs that make a find are typically happy, engaged, excited, and more alert because they expect to be able to play with a toy."
"The arrest of the accused and subsequent searches of the accused’s van incident to that arrest therefore violated s. 8 of the Charter."
"This was not a situation where the police merely opened the hood or the rear of the vehicle to take a quick peek inside. It was not a minor or technical breach. Rather, the breach was more blatant. The impact of state intrusion was thus relatively high."
B.C. Supreme Court Justice Michael Brundrett, pre-trial ruling

"The dog and the signal that the dog gives, we're relying on that to give the police officers what they don't have, and that is grounds to make an arrest, detain the person, start the criminal process."
"When you're looking at what the dog actually does, you're starting from a point when you don't have grounds to make an arrest or to engage in a search, so the dog has to get you over that hump of reasonable grounds."
"If the dog is equivocal in their behaviour, then it's, I think, a legitimate argument to say it doesn't give you that extra evidence you need."
Michael Spratt, Ottawa defence lawyer

RCMP drug-sniffer dog, PSD Doods -- still from video

Canada, like the United States, has an extremely serious problem with the criminally illegal proliferation of Fentanyl on the streets, sold for illicit profit as an opioid of choice, or used as filler in other types of drugs for greater profit. There has been an epidemic of drug overdoses linked to Fentanyl, a powerful synthetic drug used during surgeries to dull pain, and prescribed for patients suffering from chronic pain. It's a highly addictive drug, one that ensnares both non-recreational-drug users and those accustomed to using street drugs.

For police, it's a high priority to get dealers off the streets with their deadly wares. And this was what was in RCMP Cpl.Clayton Catellier's mind during traffic patrol on Highway 1 near Chilliwack, British Columbia in April of 2017 at a traffic stop when a brown Ford Windstar minivan sped behind his vehicle 15 kph over the speed limit, causing Cpl. Catellier to pull the van over. He noted that the driver was "shaking violently".

And then other signals alerted the police officer, well versed in the ways of drug runners, when he smelled the strong odour of air freshener or cologne permeating the vehicle, and noticed the presence in the vehicle of a number of cellphones, including BlackBerrys whose presence is suspicious since the encryption capabilities they come with has gained huge popularity with drug dealers. The driver, Sandor Rigo, explained he had just driven from Calgary to Vancouver and back, for used tires.

The judge noted in his statement that the van driver's explanation represented "one of the most illogical travel stories that (Catellier) had heard in the hundreds of traffic stops that he has conducted". Judge Brundrett acknowledged at the same time that Highway 1 between Chilliwack and Hope is notorious for drug running, so he was not completely ignorant of all the hints that a seasoned police officer could intuitively put together to reach an instant alert.

It just happens that this particular stretch of highway is known as a drug corridor. All of which hints spurred Cpl. Catellier to call on his search dog to do some serious sniffing. This was Doods, a trained police service dog with a good record of sniffing out the presence of drugs. She sniffed about the vehicle, tail wagging, nose busy at the van, and began to signal the presence of drugs. According to Cpl. Catellier, she placed her paws on the side of the vehicle, then attempted a 'sit' signalling the presence of drugs.

Fentanyl pills      Photo: The Canadian Press

The 'sit' position was incomplete, interrupted by the dog's back end coming in contact with a concrete barrier. The intention was obvious, however, spurring the police officer to arrest the driver in whose possession a quantity of cash had been found during a frisk. A search of the vehicle proceeded at the side of the highway, but nothing incriminating was found until the van was towed to town. There, the police officer searched the interior housing of the right wheel well, to discover five plastic bags full of fentanyl pills.

And it was then that the van driver was charged with possession for the purpose of trafficking. This was a discovery of a substantial amount of deadly fentanyl; 27,500 pills. At a pre-trial hearing, a U.S. expert witness, a former Anaheim County police officer testified for the defence, claiming it was his belief the dog gave no sign that drugs were present. And even though the judge viewing the dash cam video on the RCMP vehicle verified that Doods had committed a partial sit, he still ruled the sit was "highly ambiguous".

He ruled the sit not to be 'legitimate', and as such the arrest violated the van driver's Charter rights. He was acquitted of all charges. A perfectly idiotic ruling in view of the evidence the search of the van revealed, incriminating without an iota of doubt the man whom the judge had seen fit to acquit. When the law utterly lacks common sense, despite a crisis of drug overdoses from deadly drugs being dealt on the streets, leading to countless deaths, it's time to question why.

Doods is incensed, and anyone with an ounce of sensible thought processes should be outraged.

Upon sniffing the car — her tail wagging and nose bouncing off the van — Doods began to signal there were drugs, but her attempt to sit was impeded by a concrete barrier near the vehicle. Leann Parker/RCMP