Pubdate: Fri, 13 Dec 2002 Source: Daily News, The (CN NS) Copyright: 2002 The Daily News Contact: http://www.canada.com/halifax/dailynews/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/179 Author: Rick Howe RCMP INFRINGE ON RIGHTS The RCMP certainly got a lot of public attention with its " super" safety check on Highway 102 near Enfield a week ago. Lots of great photo-ops for newspaper photographers and especially for television cameras, eager to catch on video our police at work for us. As we sit comfortably in our homes, the supper hour news law enforcement in the trenches, making our highways a safer place. It gives us a sense of security. Great publicity for the cops perhaps, but it really provided little else of value and indeed, and it raised several issues including the legality of such an effort and whether police infringed on basic rights we enjoy here in Canada. Last Friday, 45 RCMP officers from around Nova Scotia descended on unsuspecting motorists heading outbound on the 102. Along with drug dogs, conservation officers and Transportation Department inspectors police pulled over 10 cars at a time. As the Mounties examined safety stickers, licence plates and such, safety inspectors looked for defective equipment and conservation officers checked for hunting and weapons permits. We're told the average car search lasted about five minutes. At least one rifle was seized. Police also say they found some stolen ATVs. Dogs walked by stopped cars and trucks, stopping if thier trained noses detected a whiff of any illegal drugs. We know police did order two men out of one car and found what were described as the remnants of joints were found in the ashtray. The initiative was timed to mark the beginning of Safe Driving Week in Canada. Even the RCMP's top guy in Nova Scotia, Chief Superintendent Ian Atkins, was on hand to give a little pep talk to the troops, with the cameras rolling of course. RCMP Staff Sgt. Keith McGuire later promised this major checkpoint was the first of many. "After we get the bugs straightened out, it's going to become a common practice in the province, at least once a month in the Halifax metro area," he said. I wonder if he's thinking about the possibility of a legal challenge when he refers to getting the bugs straightened out. Walter Thompson is a well known civil rights lawyer here in Nova Scotia. He doesn't think this type of all inclusive road check would stand up to a court challenge. Thompson says the laws clearly spell out just how far police can go. "Cars can be stopped for motor vehicles checks," Thompson told me this week, "But they can't use that as an excuse for a more thorough search which we saw at last Friday's checkpoint. For that they need a warrant, and for that they need reasonable and probable grounds." Some of those caught up in the police checkpoint were quoted offering thier support for police actions, suggesting it was an inconvenience they thought necessary in the name of safety. Daring to suggest otherwise might not have been the prudent thing to say as an RCMP searched your vehicle. Such an attitude was proof some people are ; sheep, conditioned to respond without much thought. Where does it stop? Would it therefore be ok for police to suddenly show up at your front door, demand the right to enter, and look about for nothing in particular? We have seen an erosion of some of our basic rights and freedoms since 9/11, so such a concern is a very real issue, not the paranoid suspicions of the left. Police do not have the right to search us " just because." As citizens of a free and democratic society we have the right to a reasonable expectation of privacy. We want to make it easy for police to do their job, but not at the expense of our democratic freedoms. Instead of putting in a great deal of effort on these one shot a month public relations exercises, why not make sure there are more police cruisers patrolling the highways, nailing speeders, tail-gaters and other yahoos who are making our roads a hazard on a daily basis? I recently drove from Halifax to Moncton on a Sunday and did not see a single police car on the morning journey up or the afternoon trip back. Gimmicks make great headlines. I expect more than smoke and mirrors for my police tax dollars. Rick Howe is the host of the radio talk show Hotline, weekdays from 10 a.m.-1 p.m. on AM 920 CJCH. - --- MAP posted-by: Beth