Pubdate: Tue, 22 Jun 2010 Source: Maple Ridge Times (CN BC) Copyright: 2010 Lower Mainland Publishing Group Inc Contact: http://www.mrtimes.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1372 Author: Amy Steele RETROFITS LEAVE COPS WITHOUT ANY JAIL CELLS Ridge Meadows RCMP will have to get by for three to six months without any police cells at the local detachment due to retrofits required under federal legislation to ensure prisoner and staff safety. "It's going to be a bit of a logistics challenge for us," said Superintendent Dave Walsh. Walsh said the detachment is still consulting with the contractor about how long it will take but the retrofit requires removing load bearing walls and essentially gutting the cells. He said Ridge Meadows RCMP will have to take prisoners to Coquitlam during the renovation period, which he said "makes sense" because that's where the courthouse is that the prisoners would have to be escorted to anyway. Walsh estimates the detachment deals with between four and five prisoners a day and he estimates officers would have to escort prisoners to Coquitlam two or three times in a 12-hour period. Police officers would also have to collect fingerprints and photographs taken at Coquitlam RCMP cells of the prisoners and would have to be there during hearings with a justice of the peace done over the telephone to determine whether the prisoner stays in custody or not. "We're hopeful (the renovations will be done) in a shorter timeframe because the longer we go the more money it will be and the more time for our officers," said Walsh. The retrofits are required to upgrade safety standards for staff and prisoners, he said. The standards have been put in place to protect suicidal or mentally ill prisoners but also cell guards, he said. Walsh said the Ridge Meadows cells still have bars on them, which prisoners could use to try and hang themselves. As well, prisoners can reach through the bars and grab guards or spit or throw bodily fluids at guards. Walsh said if there ever was a situation where there wasn't enough room in Coquitlam RCMP cells local jails have offered to help Ridge Meadows RCMP out. Walsh updated Maple Ridge council on the cell situation and other issues at Monday's workshop. Superintendent Dave Walsh said The Always Growing Green Society (TAGGS) medicinal marijuana dispensary that opened up in May as well as issues with legal marijuana grow-ops are still on the police's "radar screen." "We're continuing to work with the department of Justice, Health Canada, our RCMP legal services. It is an issue not just in Maple Ridge but across the Lower Mainland... and Canada," said Walsh. Councillor Craig Speirs said the federal government "has got to examine this in a positive manner as a health issue to get it away from the criminal element as much as possible given the present climate." Medicinal marijuana dispensaries aren't legally allowed to distribute marijuana under Health Canada medicinal marijuana access regulations. However, the dispensary have opened up across the country and medicinal marijuana users say there's a need for them to exist because not everyone is capable of growing their own marijuana and some users are unhappy with the quality of marijuana that can be bought through Health Canada. Walsh said Ridge Meadows RCMP is trying to get bar owners to voluntarily participate in a type of Bar Watch program. Walsh said it's not moving forward as fast as police would like but discussions are underway. Inspector Derren Lench said there have been three meetings so far and employees from Haney Hotel and Roosters have signed up as co-chairs. He said they would be working on creating a voluntary code of conduct for bars. Councillor Craig Speirs wanted to know if council could require bars to participate in the program as a condition of their licence. "I'd like to make it mandatory. I think it's part of being a responsible merchant in a community," he said. Brock McDonald, director of business licencing, permits and bylaws, said he would have to consult the district's lawyer on what could be required. Councillor Cheryl Ashlie, who has been pressing for re-establishment of a Bar Watch style program, said she doesn't want to see youth "caught in the crossfire," beat up in the parking lot or over served alcohol. During an update on negotiations around a new RCMP contract (the current one ends in 2012) Councillor Al Hogarth said he'd like to see improvements in the criminal justice system because he said municipalities can throw "gobs of money" at policing and have the best trained and equipped police force in the world but without reform to the criminal justice system "we're just wasting our money." "I think it's imperative we have to start making a movement towards getting the system fixed because I basically think it's broken," said Hogarth. "I think we've become a bunch of namby pambies in this world honestly. We give too much to the poor criminal and forget about the people that have been perpetrated on. We have to give more back to the people who are hurt by these criminals and let them know that the system can be fixed and their pain and their suffering whatever it may be may not be healed but certainly will go a long way to being repaired," - --- MAP posted-by: Jo-D