Pubdate: Thu, 05 Apr 2012
Source: Maple Ridge Times (CN BC)
Copyright: 2012 Lower Mainland Publishing Group Inc
Contact:  http://www.mrtimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1372
Author: James Mark Beckett

INEQUITY IN CRIMINAL RECORDS

Dear Editor,

Regarding the Maple Ridge police officer who doesn't want a criminal
record [Mountie used excessive force, April 3, TIMES] well, gee whiz,
I didn't want a criminal record either - 30 years ago, in the Maple
Ridge courthouse, for possession of two marijuana joints, and I have a
criminal record that to this day that keeps me banned from the U.S.A.

No more visiting cousins, aunts, uncles, and friends there, thanks to
the compassion of the court in Maple Ridge.

The officer should be a man. What he did was a lot worse than what I
did- I actually didn't do anything.

James Mark Beckett,

Maple Ridge