Pubdate: Thu, 07 Dec 2006 Source: Sudbury Star (CN ON) Copyright: 2006 The Sudbury Star Contact: http://www.thesudburystar.com Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/608 POLICE LEARN TOUGH LESSON Police are entrusted with powers of authority that few others in society have. There are, however, limits to those powers and on Tuesday we saw what happens when police do not adhere to these limits. Suspects go free. In this case, a man who was arrested on Big Nickel Mine Road in September 2005 carrying a duffel bag containing six kilograms of opium was cleared of criminal charges after a Sudbury judge ruled police violated his rights under Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The violation centered around the methods police used to search the man's duffel bag and their failure to read him his rights. Police had responded to a report of a suspicious, well-dressed man at another location and at some point, they came across a 54-year-old man hitchhiking on Big Nickel Mine Road. They offered to drive him to several destinations, including a bus depot or the western limits of the city so he could continue hitchhiking. But before the could get into the cruiser, police told him, they would have to search him. The opium was discovered during that search. The nuances of searching people and when to read them their rights are the stuff of courtroom legends and Hollywood productions. But when it comes to real-life situations, we would hope the police know where the legal line is. In this case, the judge was heavily critical of the situation in which the police came to discover the drugs. Said Superior Court Justice Patricia Hennessy in dismissing the criminal charges: "There were numerous and multiple breaches" of the man's rights. The officers, Hennessy said, should have read the man his rights before searching his bag. The "entire conversation," said Hennessy, "seems contrived to get (the person) into the cruiser in order to search the bag. There was no legitimate investigative purpose for the search." In other words, police essentially went fishing. That they reeled in a good catch in $600,000 worth of opium - which can be cut to make many different kinds of drugs, including heroin - was fortunate. That the drugs are off the streets is fortunate. That no one will face justice over such a large amount of drugs is very unfortunate. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom