[van-discuss] Re: police unlawful arrest

[Mark Bussanich]

Chris:

I'm a law student at UBC so I hope I can help you a bit.

It is not uncommon for police officers to act the way you describe.  In the eyes of many people (myself included), this kind of behaviour is excessive and might even constitute assault, if they were not cops.  You have some options:
1. you can do nothing
2. you can file a complaint to the Police Complaints Commissioner
3. you can sue the police

Doing nothing solves nothing but it also takes none of your time and money.  The other 2 options inevitably will be taxing, although some lawyers may take on this kind of case pro bono or at a reduced rate.

Filing with the PCC is a strange process.  You first have to bring a complaint to the police department.  They conduct an internal review and decided what, if any, measures should be taken.  Supposedly, within 6 months, they release a report to you and you then have the option of taking the case to the Commission itself.  The PCC's primary function is to make recommendations for proper training, policy guidelines, etc so it is not likely that you will see any compensation or discipline measured against the officers.  There is some question right now about the validity of the PCC and its functioning.  A BC Court of Appeal case essentially decided that the process was not completely valid.  It remains to be seen if the case will be appealed to the Supreme Court of Canada.

Suing is expensive and time consuming.  Furthermore, the test for finding an officer acted outside his/her duties is a tough one to meet.  Cases such as yours rarely, if ever, succeed.  It seems that most of the successful cases involve death or serious bodily harm inflicted by the cops while violating some well-established procedure.

All that said, officers are required by law to have a visible ID number on their uniform (usually on the left chest).  If you got those numbers, you can identify the officers for the purposes of a complaint.  I'm not positive about this but I believe officers are not required to produce identification when asked for it.  They are required to give you their ID number.

I hope this gives you a start in considering your options.  I would advise that you file a complaint with the police department.  If it goes nowhere after 6 months, you can decide then if you would like to pursue it further.  In the meantime, your case is on record, at the very least.  However, it's your decision to make and you should consider all the costs and benefits - including what you want out of this.

Feel free to contact me off list if you want to discuss this further.

Mark Bussanich
markb at tao.ca


----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Chris Quigley 
  To: vancouver-d at resist.ca 
  Sent: Friday, October 11, 2002 2:20 AM
  Subject: [van-discuss] Re: police unlawful arrest


       I don't know if you will even care about my e-mail, but just tonight I was walking home and J walked when 2 officers stopped me.  I stopped and they asked do I know why I stopped them, I said because i J walked?  Anyways they asked for my ID and i didnt believe they were police officers since i have worked in vancouver as a bartender for at least  7 years and never seen beat cops so I asked them for their id before I produced mine.  they imediattley through me against a wall and handcuffed me and said I was resisting arrest.  I have never been in trouble with the law and am well dressed, i was not drunk and complyed to every request.  Why was I handcuffed and treated that way and furthermore, is there someone you could put me in contact with who could help me out.  I think I have done nothing wrong and feel I was treated very unjustly. 
    Sincerly Chris

  P.S.  I hope I am not wasting you time, I was just doing a search under police harassment and you came up first.
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