Pubdate: Wed, 19 Sep 2007 Source: National Post (Canada) Copyright: 2007 Southam Inc. Contact: http://www.nationalpost.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/286 Author: Jack Aubry, CanWest News Service GANGS AS FEARED AS TERRORISTS, SURVEY SAYS Majority of Canadians Back Allowing Police to Break Law in Pursuit OTTAWA - Canadians want a crackdown on organized crime and overwhelmingly support officers breaking the law to infiltrate gangs, a new federal government poll indicates. The national survey, conducted for the Department of Public Safety, also reveals that a majority of Canadians believe organized crime is "as serious" a threat to Canada as terrorism, with seven of 10 wanting improvements in the federal government's current level of effort to combat it. A remarkable 48% of Canadians responded that organized crime had an impact on them personally and identified drug trafficking as the crime with the highest level of correlation to the criminal activity. And more than half (54%) agree that members of motorcycle gangs should be prosecuted based on participation alone, regardless of whether they have committed a crime. "The majority of respondents believe that undercover police officers should be permitted to commit certain crimes in order to infiltrate gangs -- 40% strongly agree and 35% somewhat agree," said the survey's executive summary. But Alan Borovoy, the general counsel for the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, wondered if the Conservative government were in the process of preparing legislation giving police greater powers and was using the survey to create the need for new laws. He warned that the issue is not as black and white as presented by the survey and that police already have sweeping powers to battle crime. He said the association's position on the issue is nuanced, and it acknowledges that there are "extreme" situations in which the case can be made to allow police to break the law. "In the past, they've argued for these powers at a time when you were reading in the newspapers about police conducting busts here and busts there, and busting up that ring and this ring, and you start to wonder, if they are doing so well with all these powers, where is the argument for anything new," said Borovoy. "So they may want to legislate and they have a survey now that demands that they legislate. This is a marvellous way to run a country." The executive summary put out by Public Safety Canada with the poll said it was conducted to "examine public perceptions of the prevalence of organized crime, the perceived risk of victimization and how Canadians view efforts to combat organized crime in Canada." Conducted between March 15 and 29, involving 1,337 telephone interviews with adults aged 18 and over, the poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.7 percentage points, 19 times out of 20. It cost taxpayers $47,650. The RCMP, which is required by law to disclose annually their lawbreaking activities, authorized undercover agents to break the law with immunity from criminal charges 11 times in 2005-06, during investigations into drug trafficking, counterfeiting, alleged corruption of public officials and tobacco smuggling. The number of cases were up from seven in 2004-05 and six in 2003-04. All the reported cases last year were carried out by civilian agents of the police, who are typically undercover informants, rather than the police themselves. The "law enforcement justification provisions" for officers were enacted in 2002 following a Supreme Court of Canada ruling that said police did not have carte blanche to break the law. The poll found that 84% of Canadians view organized crime as a serious issue in Canada, with the two highest responses of "very concerned" being linked to child pornography on the internet (79%) and identity theft (75%). The three measures most favoured by Canadians to combat organized crime include mandatory first degree murder for killing a justice official, like a prosecutor or juror; longer sentences and reduced eligibility for parole for offences linked to organized crime; and new measures to improve the safety of witnesses and jurors, such as shielding their identities. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake